First Semester Grades and UW GPA

Applying to College
1

This is my first post on here, whoo! I’m posting because I’ve been watching y’all from time to time and I witness the brutal, heart-breaking honest and that’s what I need here.
I’m applying to the most selective colleges among others. I don’t wanna get into all the details because I’m here for a very specific topic, and I don’t want this to be a bummer chance thread. My first semester senior year grades are pretty good. I got straight A’s in AP Lit, AP Stats, AP Physics, AP Econ, AP Gov, DE Hist 109, DE Drawing 124 (fun fact, this class was harder on its own than the rest combined).
My GPA now will be a 4.7 on a 4.0 scale (school gives 5.0s for A’s in APs and Honors). These most recent grades will bump me up to a 3.88 UW GPA, which I know is relatively low. My questions are as follows:
In all total honesty, and with no other additional information about ECs or test scores or background or any of that, is my UW GPA as it stands now a real crippling factor for admissions to ultra competitive schools?
Also, I can find lots of information online on how much it sucks to have bad first semester grades, but no one talks about the positive effects of having really good first semester grades. Are there any? Are first semester grades really only noted when they’re bad, moreso than if they’re better than grades from previous semesters?

Any information is appreciated, thanks ahead of time.

2

Your GPA is not, nor do I think it ever was, a crippling factor. 3.8x, 3.9x, and 4.0 are all top-flight. The only reason a 3.7x or lower GPA is considered an issue is because 35,000 applicants allow colleges to be unreasonably picky.

You have a 3.88 GPA with a pair of dual-enrolment courses and 5 AP classes. Presumably the GPA was a little lower at the start of this year. 3.85? Your transcript was good enough for any college in the country at the start of this year, and that hasn’t changed.

3

Great, thank you very much for the reassurance.

4

Bump