<p>D's grades from freshman year weren't the greatest. She did well her sophomore/junior years and is acing her senior year (and she's not taking fluff classes). </p>
<p>The guidance counselor said in her recommendation she is going to mention that her GPA is nowhere indicative of the type of student she is.</p>
<p>Do college admissions really take into account the fact that she really pulled up her grades after freshman year?</p>
<p>Yes. What schools (or what selectivity level of schools, if you don't want to name specifics) is she considering? What type of GPA are we looking at -with/without freshman grades?</p>
<p>The ones who do a holistic review will look at trends, yes. What schools is she applying to?</p>
<p>Were there any reasons her grades were bad freshman year? Anything beyond her control? (family illness, death of someone close, divorce, one or both parents unemployed)? If so make sure that gets worked into her essays or her GC recommendations.</p>
<p>Good point by Mombot. If it's one of the more "strictly by the numbers" schools, the trend may be overlooked. Although I think many of these do look at transcripts and would probably notice the trend.</p>
<p>There are schools that won't overlook bad grades freshman year or any mistake, for that matter. The selectivity level of such schools is such that they have too many "perfect" records to have to fool around with deciding what info to ignore. They even have kids who do well despite horrible circumstances.
But for all but the very top schools, there are good margins for error.<br>
Any of the smaller schools that scrutinize the apps, will give consideration--it may not be enough to get her in if the competition that year is heavy, but they will not automatically diss her.</p>
<p>I think cpt.. is overly pessimistic. The top elite schools could pick students with near perfect SATs and all straight A's. They don't do that. They look at a lot of factors. My D had low grades in sophomore year. This greatly impacted her final gpa and class rank. She was admitted to her first choice, elite school anyway. She is a white female from a over represented suburban area and had nothing which would qualify as a hook.</p>
<p>It does effect the class rank too... and that's been my question. How do they judge class rank if obviously the freshmen year through her off? I am also in the same boat, so any insight into this would be helpful.</p>
<p>I also have some disagreements with ctp's argument, which is common. First of all, I dont think colleges should (do not know if they do) expect all students to have parents who will berate their child to get straight A's, which is why many of them do get straight A's. Some kids just have parents who don't care. Secondly, if that is not the case, not every student "realizes" themselves and takes control of their future at the same time once they get into high school, and I dont see why top colleges should expect that. Shouldn't the fact that they are on track now and for a few years, rather then in their middle school-freshmen year matter the most? Who knows, maybe its those who have an upward trend during their high school years that have the most momentum and carry it on throughout thier college years, while those who have been doing it all 12 years will burn out once they get into college.</p>
<p>You need to check at your school, A-San, to see how freshmen grades are figured into class rank. Some schools report unweighted and weighted GPAs. Some schools based class rank (if they report it) on unweighted and some on weighted. Some calculate class rank only on sophomore and later weighted GPAs. So many differences.</p>
<p>MAMom23 </p>
<p>The only thing I know is that there would be no harm in trying to see how many letters of reccomendation your child could get which would reflect how they pulled themselves up from their bootstraps academically. That is really all I know, deary:)</p>
<p>Cptnofthehouse isn't just pessimistic, he's wrong. GPA is just one of many factors admissions will consider. A bad freshman year won't matter much at all. Many schools don't even consider freshman grades. I assure you that schools look for much more than the 4.0/2400 kid.</p>
<p>momofwild...</p>
<p>I think MOWC Is right. I do remember that some schools don't include freshman grades (maybe because some high schools start at grade 10). Does anyone else remember hearing that. Either way, colleges always look favorably when they see improvement (which also suggests maturation).</p>
<p>Captain.... I think you've been courtmartialed ;)</p>
<p>I know when my son applied to Stanford, they said they only consider grades from grades 10-12.</p>
<p>And MIchigan only looks at 10-11th grades.</p>
<p>I have definitely seen a number of schools that only look at 10-12. It's not universal, of course.</p>
<p>In her freshman year she was a class officer and a varsity athlete in 3 sports. She also had 7 full classes with no studies her first 2 terms (1st semester). Her second 2 terms she had a study and her grades improved. I know she was having a hard time balancing everything.</p>
<p>Her father and I have been divorced for many years, but that was a year she was having a real hard time with him. He is an abusive person - physically and mentally. But, I digress.</p>
<p>She finally was able to figure things out by her sophomore year and she was much more organized. Though her guidance counselor (who will be writing a recommendation) knows of the divorce, she is not aware of my ex's abusive nature. She might know somewhat because my D who is in college now was never very shy about talking about physical assaults from her father and had spoken to the vice principal and principal about it.</p>
<p>The schools she is looking at are not Div I schools - she's looking at Div II's. She is being recruited by coaches because of her outstanding athletic ability. </p>
<p>Also, the GPA given by the guidance counselor did not take into account honors classes. G.C. did mention that different schools weight things differently, so most likely they would be figuring on a higher GPA. </p>
<p>Maybe we're just overwhelmed by everything (it didn't seem this hard the last time!) and I'm trying to keep her from worrying too much.</p>
<p>You/she probably are worrying too much :). The key thing is for her to have schools on her list in the match and safety categories that will love and want her at the GPA figured the "least favorable" way. And that she will love and want these schools.</p>
<p>Is she looking at DIIs or DIIIs. DIIs are often not the strongest academic schools, so there shouldn't be any problem.</p>
<p>If freshman year grades mattered to MIT, my son wouldn't have gotten in.</p>
<p>For that matter, if a 4.0 mattered to MIT (even if they just looked at 10-12), my son wouldn't have gotten in.</p>
<p>Even the top public schools, where everything is by the numbers, allow for lower GPAs if the SATs are higher, and vice versa. <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html</a></p>
<p>I agree that a bad freshman year is not going to necessarily be the sinker. I sounded waaaay to pessimistic in my post, I know. Yes, there are students who get in despite a bad freshman year, and there are top schools that say right out that they do not look at the freshman year. </p>
<p>However, this question comes up often in my sons' private school where many kids do not do so well freshman year, as some have come to the school for the academic rigor from middle schools without the rigorous standards. First quarter is usually panic time for those parents who see letters of the alphabet they have never seen, since to get into this school, you have to be a good student. The question that comes up is inevitably the one the OP asks. </p>
<p>The answer each year is the same. An honest "yes" that it does happen that the grade deflation at schools like this can possibly make a difference, though first quarter grades are mitagated by the other three quarters and the school only reports final year grades. Most kids do bring up those first quarter grades as the year procedes. Those schools that are used to dealing with this school take all of this into consideration, and they are well aware of the grade deflation. However, there are some schools that do not. There have been times when a bad first year just is not overcome well enough by future years' grades, and it can be a reason for being waitlisted or even rejected, over being accepted. A few years ago this situation occured to a young man we know who is a legacy at a highly selective universtiy. Though he had excellent grades for the type of highschool he was in, the first year was dicey, with an upward crescendo to a perfect 4.0 senior year. But the adcom at the uni bluntly said that it was the reason for rejection; they had too many kids just like him but also with a better gpa. Now had he also been carrying some hooks that made him more distinguished, it could have made a difference despite the gpa. But given his profile, he needed a better transcript. </p>
<p>My son did not do well his first two years of highschool, and he still got into schools that kids with his profile AND better grades did. I didn't see any thing that indicated that his waitlists and rejections were due to those early highschool years which did surprise me. And I am sure that there are many such examples. But there are schools that have come right out and said to the gcs that the early grades were the Waterloo of the students' records simply because there were just too many kids just like these kids with perfect records in spite of tough circumstances.</p>