<p>I just received my grades for second quarter of freshman year. My GPA was a 1.76, which bought my overall GPA to a 2.5.</p>
<p>The reason it was low was because I took calculus and chemistry, since at the time my major was biology. Clearly, this was a mistake (gradewise), but I'm sure that after this, things will improve on account of my new major (either legal studies or environmental studies), since I tend to do well in abstract subject such as these.</p>
<p>My goal is to have a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.3 by the end of junior year, which I hope is feasible. However, I'm still very worried about this 2.5; So I'm wondering: do law schools place much consideration on an upward GPA trend, especially if they see that the classes responsible for the initial crash were of a science nature? Thanks.</p>
<p>Law schools are somewhat used to seeing premeds and other science folks switch majors and do better...I think Anna Ivey's book has some advice about writing addenda for this situation. They'll still consider your 3.3 for what it is (because that's the data they have to submit to US news and such) but might be very slightly more generous. </p>
<p>You might consider waiting a year after graduation to apply so you can count your senior year grades in your GPA. If you get a 2.5 freshman year and a 3.7 your sophomore and junior years, you'll have a 3.3, but if you get another 3.7 senior year you'll have a 3.4--it may not sound like much of an increase, but even 0.1 on your gpa can be the difference between getting accepted or rejected from a given school.</p>
<p>I had a very similar situation. During freshman year at Boston U., my financial situation made it so I had to work non-stop to help pay for school. On top of that, I was going through some issues with depression. This lead to a 2.3 freshman year GPA. I took a leave of absense to attend a more financially feasible school during sophmore year. I earned a 3.86 GPA for the year, which is far more indicative of my level of performance. Luckily, during my sophmore, my financial situation changed enough to allow me to return to BU. Upon returning at the beginning of Junior year, I earned a 4.0 GPA my first semester back, leading to what will most likely be a 3.85-3.9 for the year. I expect to earn around a 3.7-3.8 for senior year. While my cumulative GPA will be between a 3.4 and 3.5, I was hoping that law school admissions reps see the trend rather than the result. My 3.9 within my major and 3.8 over the final 3 years of college should hopefully carry some significant weight, enough to wash out that ugly 2.3. </p>
<p>The more I ask around, the more I hear of people with the same situation. Is it fairly common that people do poorly during freshman year for one reason or another and then recover strongly? And would this greatly affect my chances for admissions to a Top 20 school?</p>