Freshmen gpa ruined chances?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi guys Im a student in New York, who is about to finish my first year with 3B's first semster, and 2 B's second semester. I go to a rigourous school, and all my peers have like 3.8 and 4.0 UNWEIGHTED. The colleges I'm aiming for include
-carnegie mellon
-purdue university
-university of michigan ann arbor
-UCB
-georgia insittute of technology.</p>

<p>Im planning on getting averaging a 3.8~the next 3 years. I know I could've done better. I jsut need your help guys! Do i still have a chance, (yes or no, and why, PLZ GIVE A DETAILED INFO) ?</p>

<p>I would prefer serious and insightful answers! Cause im starting on planning for colleges right now!</p>

2

<p>Good news: freshman year doesn’t really matter and raw GPA doesn’t really matter.</p>

<p>Do well during these next few years and failures this year won’t really matter.</p>

<p>Whew, right? :)</p>

3

<p>thanks! just to clarify, whats raw GPA? and my friends were all saying “why would colleges get you, when they can get a student who can get A’s EVERY year”</p>

<p>EDIT: BTW our school only unweights</p>

4

<p>Why:</p>

<p>Because colleges are admitting not a high school freshman but a completed product of a 4-year program. In other words, they don’t care who you were as a freshman. They want to know if the guy you are today is desirable for their college right now.</p>

5

<p>thanks you so much for your time!
so basically your saying that even if i start with a 3.5, if i get like a 3.9, 3.8,3.8 my next 3 years i’ll be a strong candidate? sorry! im still young, but I hate this feeling of regret that I MAY feel senior year. </p>

<p>BTW: whats your experience on admissions?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>The same reason Harvard doesn’t admit only valedictorians even though it could if it wanted to every single year: they have an admissions philosophy that favors holistic evaluation of the applicant that involves looking beyond grades to understand what makes a potential student distinctive.</p>

<p>Oh and raw GPA is just another phrase for GPA. Admissions offices look at patterns of grades - your transcript. That means ignoring the GPA, to a reasonable extent.</p>

<p>(I’m going to Princeton this fall)</p>

7

<p>ok I appreciate it! I’ll just aim for those 4.0, and disregard(ina good way) my lack of effort in freshmen year. Im taking
precalc
chem H
spanish 3 H
english H
and AP human.
Ive hear they were all relatively esay, so I look forward!</p>

8

<p>Sure, while also relatively advanced for a sophomore. Good luck.</p>

9

<p>Carnegie Mellon will actually recalculate your GPA based on grades 10-12, they ignore 9th grade because they know lots of good students don’t do well in the 9th grade (due to immaturity). Not all schools will do that however.
Just do the best you can in everything you do! And don’t worry about things beyond your control (like what other students are doing etc.)</p>