<p>I'm a freshman at a private day school and I'm in French II, Art Photo, History, Geometry, Spanish I, Intro to Biology, and English I. My grades right now aren't that great. I expect to have around a 3.5 for the first marking period. My questions is, if I have around a 3.8 for the next three quarters, will this be okay regarding college admissions? Could you explain to me how colleges look at freshman GPA?</p>
<p>Well, some colleges don't look at freshman GPA at all - the UCs, for example. Other than that: colleges recognize that freshman year is a big adjustment for a lot of people, socially and academically, so it's not surprising that your GPA would be a little lower than it normally would. And by the time you start applying to colleges, your freshman year grades will be three years in the past - your sophomore and junior grades are much more important. A 3.8 is not bad at all, and if you show an upward trend over your next two years, you've got nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>(Dude, you're a freshman and you've got 3,699 posts? Calm down! You've got lots of time.)</p>