<p>what do you think is it a big difference between how much they care about freshman grades vs the rest?</p>
<p>Problems with Freshman year grades:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They are often the easiest and most generic - 99% of the time they are ultrabasic elementary things that most people know by the end of HS very thoroughly anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>The transition to high school sometimes causes bumps</p></li>
<li><p>The applicant's current state is what matters - the freshman year is so far into the past that it begins to lose relevance, same as how middle school is irrelevent since its too far in the past to be significant</p></li>
</ol>
<p>freshman year is the least important since it was so long ago, but if you are applying to a very selective college, you need to have good freshman grades. However, senior, junior, and even sophomore grades are the most important. Junior year is the hardest so colleges want to see how you did, while senior year is the most current and reflective of who you are. The college I got into ED (Occidental) doesn't even look at freshman year grades, just 10-12. Most colleges however still look at freshman year.</p>