College advice for a huge upward trend?

<p>I have been looking at Barnard a little bit (as a reach both academically and financially), because it is different to the other women’s colleges due to being integrated with Columbia. I’m still not sure how I would feel about it, but I do have a friend there who has similar political views to me and really likes it, so I might consider it as a reach. </p>

<p>The main thing I’m having trouble with is figuring out which colleges would be most forgiving of a rough freshman year. I know the UCs generally are, which is great, but in terms of smaller LACs, etc., I’m not really sure where I stand.</p>