<p>So I know there are 1,001 threads about this already, but they all give mixed messages. So is anyone 100% sure: Does Stanford use freshman grades?</p>
<p>As far as I know, yes. They look at all your grades from Freshman Year through junior Year, and Senior Year mid-year grades as well. But obviously, freshman year grades don’t hold as much weight as junior year grades. If your freshmen year grades are a bit low (mix of As and Bs), it’s OK, as long you show an upward trend. (i.e. your grades got better from year to year.)</p>
<p>I can confirm (after speaking to an adcom), they don’t count. But try not to bomb it.</p>
<p>Wait, so Stanford doesn’t look at freshman year grades?</p>
<p>No, a friend of mine, a Princeton sophomore says that they do not consider your freshman GPA.</p>
<p>Oh yeah and Princeton doesn’t count it either. But as fas as I know, Columbia, Harvard, and UPenn do. Not sure about the others.</p>
<p>They count your sophomore year, junior year, and first semester senior year, and possibly your second semester senior to make sure you didn’t slack. = 5 semesters not counting your second semester</p>
<p>@Jollybolly So a 3.6-3.8 wouldn’t look bad, right? Because that’s my freshman GPA. I haven’t seen it exactly yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a 3.8, if anything else, nothing less than a 3.6.</p>
<p>I’m sure they look at them, and I’m sure if you get more than a few B’s or A-'s your chances are going to be hurt. You’re going up against the top 0.2% or so of college applicants across the country, so everything matters to some degree. This being said, my SAT scores weren’t that good, so I think everything depends on how well you market yourself. Work hard and don’t slip up again.</p>
<p>@ag2011 no they don’t look at them, I just got that confirmed by an adcom.</p>
<p>My thought process is that, if you’re going up against an identical applicant and the only thing that is different if your freshman grades, that may cause a difference in your fortunes. I would take everything an adcom says with a grain of salt—everything matters in college admissions at this level.</p>
<p>Why don’t you do some research (NOT on CC) before you ask this question…? I’m sure it’s somewhere on their website; if not, contact an admissions officer yourself. If anything, they’ll be happy that you’re taking the initiative to ask questions and learn more about the school. Plus, that opens up a thread of conversation between you and an adcom.</p>
<p>@Franciasalamatt what’s wrong w/ asking the question? Does it offend you?</p>
<p>most schools look at your all of your grades leading up to middle of your senior year.</p>
<p>Yep, Stanford doesn’t look at your freshman grades.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>from the “Transcripts” section here: [School</a> Reports & Transcripts : Stanford University](<a href=“Page Not Found : Stanford University”>Page Not Found : Stanford University)</p>
<p>…so, this says they will focus on 10th and beyond, but it does NOT say they will completely ignore 9th.</p>
<p>In all technicalities (just to resolve this question), even if Stanford doesn’t look at Freshman grades (like UC’s), they do. Not directly at the grades during freshman year, but the rank / percentage tier you are in (for example, rank 23, in the top 10% etc). Since your freshman year for most high schools is considered in the ranking/percentage system, it is in all sense “counted”. Thus, it is advised that you try not to mess up freshman year.</p>
<p>So all the APs I did during freshmen year were somewhat worthless if they dont look at cumulative gpa from freshmen?</p>
<p>This is from the Stanford website:</p>
<p>[School</a> Reports & Transcripts : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/transcripts.html]School”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/transcripts.html)</p>
<p>focus is on 10th, 11th, 12th grade coursework</p>
<p>I really hope they don’t - or if they do, they don’t consider them heavily. I have pretty low ones. They’re not terrible; none of them fall below a 90 (my lowest is a 92 in 2 classes), but one bad grade in each of those classes brought it down a lot.</p>
<p>Just curious, what was the lowest grade you all got during your freshman year?</p>