During my freshman year I took electives that brought down my weighted GPA a lot even though I got all As in them. In my core classes I got a b+, 2 a- an a and an a+. These grades were in all honors classes except the b+. The teacher for this class was unexplainably hard and the curriculum was basically the same as the honors class (my b+ was the highest grade in the class). The reason I was in that class in the first place was because my school strongly discourages the students from taking all honors classes. My first semester was not very strong and I got my grades up during the second one. However, I am not sure if I have any chance at Ivy League caliber schools anymore because of my freshman year. My weighted GPA is much lower than it could have been and now I am concerned that I have ruined my chances ACADEMICALLY. I am not a URM or incredible athlete or anything but I do have strong ECs. My unweighted GPA is 3.85, which I also feel like I can improve. I really think that I can improve to a 4.0 the next 3 years but I am concerned I will be rejected from top schools due to freshman year even if I am otherwise qualified. Some schools I am interested in are Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, UCLA, and Northeastern. Will my freshman year ruin chances at these top schools, or if I have perfect grades in the toughest classes the next 3 years will my mediocre freshman grades be disregarded.
Thanks for all your responses, I am pretty sure I am much more concerned than I probably should be.
bump…
Your grades are fine.
So lots of colleges don’t look at freshman grades, Stanford for one. Most colleges realize that freshman year is a transition year. They are also more interested in the trend. They like to see a trend upwards. So as a student becomes more familiar with the school and more comfortable challenging themselves, they take on more difficult classes, and they show an upward trend in their grades. All is not lost as well if this is not the case.
You probably heard that Junior year GPA is the most important. That is because this is what Naviance uses as an indicator of GPA to compare students from the same school and give “chances” about college admissions. By Junior year, the playing field is probably leveled and all adjustment and “new” transition issues are likely taken care of and the student is hitting their best stride. This is why kids feel so pressured to do well Junior year.
Keep in mind also, that most elite colleges use a holistic approach to evaluating your application. And hooks do matter. So do your ECs and community involvement and habit of leadership.
Finally, if you had particular challenges your freshman year, it puts your grades in context for the college. You will have opportunities to explain yourself in the app, but you want to be careful that its not looking like you are making up excuses.
Life gives you lots of opportunities to strut your stuff Try to find your strengths and demonstrate your interests and talents. You still have a chance at top colleges. Keep calm and carry on!!!
It is way too early to think about specific colleges or group of colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You just have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.