<p>In my time on this forum, I have seen a number of people say that Princeton completely disregards freshman year grades when evaluating the rigor of a courseload and calculating GPA. Sadly, I achieved my best grades during my freshman year, which played an integral role in solidifying my class rank. Obviously, my transcript will show these grades, so is it possible that admissions might consider them, even to a small degree?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if Princeton “completely disregards” as in, they don’t even LOOK at them, or if they just “glance” at them to make sure you didn’t fail everything.</p>
<p>Ehh, I think that a year of hard work should count for something, don’t you?</p>
<p>Heehee…my D is like this too. She had ONE horrid semester and it was the first year of 10th grade. She switched schools midyear and it was a nightmare. Take THAT one semester out and her GPA “skyrockets” (well…in CC terms anyway…it goes up what amounts to a VERY important .15). So I wish we could “switch out” what year were to be taken out- wouldn’t that be great? But, alas…at this level y’all must have 8 incredible semesters because the other applicants do. </p>
<p>Luck to everyone anyway.</p>
<p>Really? My freshmen year grades were the lowest ones of them all (they were mostly around As and A-s but the average for that year was the lowest). Every year since then, my grades have greatly increased, which I’m really happy about. So if you take that year out, my GPA increases by a lot more, which is amazing. </p>
<p>But anyways, I think that Princeton probably won’t throw out the grades completely, so they will at least consider what you got. I guess the main reason why they do that is just because most people are still getting used to high school in their freshman year and they tend to do much better after that once they’ve got the hang of it. Hopefully it shouldn’t make too much of a difference though, because you’ve probably kept up your grades anyways.</p>
<p>Ivan:
Place your transcript upside down when sending it into Princeton admissions.</p>
<p>They might not completely disregard them, but they really don’t care about them. However:</p>
<p>They might affect your class rank, GPA, and future course selection. My school requires certain grades in classes to take the next class. (An A in H. Physics to go into Phys C the next year, etc.) If your freshman year grades are poor, you might not have the opportunity to take high level classes, depending on the school. In mine, you’d have less of a shot, but in others, it’ll vary.</p>