<p>A lot of the kids at my son's high school seem to like to talk about how their freshman year won't be looked at by colleges. How can this possibly be true? Doesn't the whole transcript go when they apply? Is a separate three-year GPA calculated by some schools...or by the college? </p>
<p>Can anyone shed a bit more light on this issue? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. Class rank is not calculated in our high school</p>
<p>Colleges say different things. Some say they disregard it entirely, others say they discount it. For high schools that compute class rank, 9th grade is usually included to some extent, so if the colleges look at class rank they will be taking it into account regardless of what they say. (However, for instance, at my kids' school no 9th grade courses are extra-weighted, so 9th grade grades wind up mattering a lot less than 10th-12th grades in computing class rank for kids in the top third of the class.)</p>
<p>Obviously, if the grades are there on the transcript, someone's eyes may fall on them, but if you think about it it's hard to imagine that they could make a lot of difference. Bad or mediocre 9th grade grades followed by good 10th-11th grade grades is a great story, but not necessarily a greater story than good grades throughout. Great 9th grade grades followed by mediocre 10th-11th grade grades is a terrible story, but not necessarily worse than mediocre grades throughout.</p>
<p>At the high school my son attended, every classroom in which freshman courses are taught contains a large sign saying "Ninth Grade Counts."</p>
<p>It counts. </p>
<p>It does not count so heavily that a kid can't afford to make a mistake, but it counts. It gets computed into an overall GPA; it affects class rank; and at most high schools grades in 9th grade classes affect eligibility for honors/AP classes later in later years. (Even if class rank is not calculated by your high school for purposes of any awards or determining valedictorian, a class rank or decile might be reported to colleges). </p>
<p>So basically the kid that starts off on the right track in 9th grade is likely to have a far better shot at top colleges in the end than the kid who has slacked off. </p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about a B or even a C for a 9th grader if it is just a matter of getting adjusted to the demands of high school.... but don't let your son start slacking off because he thinks it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>I am also interested in this topic since I have a ninth grade student who has switched from a public school to an independent school and is undergoing a bit of a shock with the general difficulty of the work. I do recall when we were investigating colleges for an older child that certain high level schools said, flat-out, they they did not consider grades from 9th grade.</p>
<p>Stanford for one says they don't look at 9th grade grades. (Not even an A+ in AP Computer Science? - we're hoping they are being less than truthful!) Other posters are correct though that even if a school recomputes your GPA - it's still going to figure into your class rank.</p>
<p>U of Michigan is another that professes not to look at 9th grade.</p>
<p>It counts at most. Many kids go from public middle schools to private high schools. As long as they do well in the context of the school, it's fine.</p>
<p>9th grade counts, but not as heavily as 11th and first half of 12th. Colleges want to see consistent solid grades; OR they want to see an upward trend. They DON"T want to see a downward trend.</p>
<p>Our stragegy with our son (now in 12th) was to start with only 3 honors courses and add more each year as we were sure he could handle it. With our daughter, now a frosh, we let her take 5 honors. She's also playing a sport and dancing competitively. We figured if it's all too much and her grades suffer, it's easy enough to explain to colleges, "I tried to do too much as a frosh, and found out where my limits are." IMPORTANT NOTE: It was HER decision to try to handle all these classes and sports and dance. We warned her that we didn't think it would work but we'd let her try. We did NOT push her to try to do all of this!</p>