<p>Hi everybody! Quick question: I know that some schools disregard your freshman year in the admissions process (THANK GOD!)...</p>
<p>I know Stanford does, and I've heard that Princeton does... but does anybody else know if other ivies/top 30 schools do this as well?</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>You can find a lot of threads on this subject if you search the forums. Here’s a good one:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/555244-colleges-dont-factor-freshman-gpa.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/555244-colleges-dont-factor-freshman-gpa.html</a></p>
<p>One of the posters contacted a bunch of universities and came up with the following list:</p>
<p>1) All of the UC’s (ucla, Berkeley, ucsd…ect)
*(for sure about this)</p>
<p>2) Stanford university
*(for sure about this one)</p>
<p>3) Carnegie Mellon university
*(for sure about this one)</p>
<p>4) Princeton university
*(for sure about this one)</p>
<p>5) Michigan universities (Ann harbor,…ect)
*(for sure about this one)</p>
<p>6) university of Southern California
*(for sure that all Californian universities don’t care about 9th grade gpa)</p>
<p>7) John Hopkins university
*(for sure about this one), (contacted, they only use 10-12, emphasis on 11-12)</p>
<p>8) Penn State???
*(NOT sure about this one), (contacted, awaiting reply)</p>
<p>Remember that most schools will still look at your class rank, which depends in part on freshman grades.</p>
<p>@LookingIn</p>
<p>Ann Arbor didn’t used to look at freshman grades but I’m pretty sure they do now. So does Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>I just copied and pasted the above list from another thread. I should probably edit the post to make that more clear, but CC won’t let me. </p>
<p>It looks like you’re right about UMich:</p>
<p>[‘U</a>’ to no longer recalculate GPA in admissions process - The Michigan Daily](<a href=“http://www.michigandaily.com/content/u-no-longer-recalculate-gpa-admissions-process]'U”>'U' to no longer recalculate GPA in admissions process)</p>
<p>JHU is a bit more confusing. In 2003, [the</a> WSJ reported](<a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/archive/03oct/educ_gpa.htm]the”>http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/archive/03oct/educ_gpa.htm):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And the author of the above list (in 2008) reported the following exchange with JHU:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But in 2007, an admissions officer wrote on [Hopkins</a> Interactive](<a href=“Taiga”>Taiga):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So it appears the confusion is due to JHU eliminating freshman grades for internal statistical reporting, but considering them in their holistic application evaluation.</p>
<p>The revised list, based on freezo1994’s research and these new data points, would then be:</p>
<p>UCs
Stanford
CMU
Princeton
USC</p>
<p>^^Except that such list is not real. Princeton, for example, uses class rank as one admissions criteria. Both Stanford and CMU even indicate that Class Rank is “Very Important”. By definition, rank includes Frosh grades. So while they may not “look” at them, they do use 'em.</p>
<p>UC looks at them as well. Back in the dark ages, Frosh grades weren’t even reported to UC, but UC changed its application to include them. (So one has to conclude that they look at them and they can be used under holistic admissions.)</p>
<p>For a student from a high school that does not report class rank who is applying to any of the aforementioned schools, freshman grades are not very important?</p>
<p>sorry, nice try, but no. Any adcom will look at the school profile and interpolate class rank. A 3.7 based on all B’s Frosh year is still a 3.7. Without a hook, Stanford, Princeton et al will accept the 3.95 every time. Think about it from the adcom’s perspective: why/how would they justify taking the lower gpa kid, who might barely be in the top 10%, when such adcom has plenty of other great students at that same school that are in the top 10 students.</p>
<p>Or, consider Dartmouth, which is just slightly less selective than Princeton and perhaps Stanford. Of Dartmouth’s Frosh class, approx. were 40% Val and Sal in HS. Another 10% are recruited athletes. Thus, over half the class is filled by straight A students or recruits. </p>
<p>So yeah, Frosh grades count at the upper echelons.</p>
<p>bluebayou – I agree that most schools indirectly account for freshman year grades through class rank (see the end of post #2).</p>
<p>yes, but your “revised list” in post 4 is a just not realistic. Regardless of the selective college’s official spin on Frosh grades, they do count.</p>
<p>Bluebayou, what’s your point? None of those schools will “disregard freshman year” but they will not DIRECTLY use freshman year grades for admission. However, since class rank is used by many schools (certainly almost all the highly selective ones) they will contribute indirectly. We could also say that the more selective schools look much further than GPA and class rank for admission.</p>
<p>Well this is a bummer…I did really well as a freshman.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My point, such that it is, is that the highly selective colleges use Frosh grades directly. It is illogical for them to officially write in their Common Data Sets that Class Rank is “Very Important” and then say that Frosh grades are not, not even considered. IMO, it is just spin – colleges speaking out of both sides of their mouths.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sure, they pick and choose among the top few per high school. There is no way that Dartmouth matriculates 40% Vals and Sals if Frosh grades are unimportant. Brown likely has a similar composition. And since Princeton is more selective than both of those colleges…</p>
<p>My point is that any unhooked Frosh with a bad year should not target the Ivies. Apply, sure. (Gretsky: you miss every shot not taken.) But assume the odds are like winning the lottery.</p>
<p>CSUs don’t count freshman year grades in calculating admissions GPA, and most of them just plug admissions GPA into an eligibility index to determine whether you will be admitted. (CSU = California State University, which is a public university system in California distinct from the University of California)</p>
<p>Texas public universities don’t count any high school grades directly (they do not consider grades or GPA at all), but all high school grades which can influence class rank count indirectly (rank is a very important criterion for Texas public universities).</p>
<p>^ Not true about all Tx public Us. For instance A&M uses grades. The flagship does not.</p>
<p>Not sure that it is accurate to say that the University of Texas doesn’t consider grades. Instate auto admit students are admitted based on class rank alone, but for the rest of the admission pool (25% of the entering class)-- including all out of state students, in state students below the auto admit percentage, and instate students whose schools don’t disclose rank, the review is holistic and they do require a complete high school transcript. (Also, don’t tell an Aggie that their school isn’t a flagship!)</p>
<p>So,
-Lazy freshman who did not get <em>all</em> As (Still did pretty well but did not have a 4.0. No APs available.)
-4.0+ since; all As with 8-9 AP classes by graduation (will have taken almost all available)
-School does not report class rank but recommendations will probably mention top 10% or a similar, vague figure.</p>
<p>how would freshman grades figure into this scenario for schools from that list, hypothetically?</p>
<p>Im pretty sure USC does look at your freshmen year.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins looks at freshman grades but they recalculate gpa without using them.</p>
<p>McGill excludes 9th grade completely and looks closely at 11th & 12th.</p>
<p>JHU: Class Rank = “Important”</p>
<p><a href=“Registrar - Homewood Schools (KSAS & WSE) | Office of the Registrar | Johns Hopkins University”>Registrar - Homewood Schools (KSAS & WSE) | Office of the Registrar | Johns Hopkins University;
<p>'SC is extremely flexible on grades for all NMSF’s.</p>