<p>Which grades are the ones that count the most for college admissions? Is it really necessary to get perfect grades throughout high school, or is it alright to do so-so freshman year, pretty good sophmore, and then really well the last two years?</p>
<p>Well...don't bomb em. Lol.</p>
<p>Keep em up, get mostly (all but one or two) a's junior and senior year (assuming you're taking 8 classes), and you're good.</p>
<p>Well, I hope its junior year, because I almost FAILED half my classes freshman year, did really bad sophomore year, but plan to do amazing junior year.</p>
<p>Depends on the school's selectivity.</p>
<p>Definitely 10-11. Maybe 9 and 12.</p>
<p>Don't do bad without any legitimate reasons. Realistically, you gotta be competitive with the tons of other people that have barely a scratch or less --- assuming that it's for a highly selective college.</p>
<p>I agree with Spartan Pho3nix and G-U-NOT.</p>
<p>I would say try your best all four years. I was a slacker freshman year and am now regretting it.</p>
<p>do many colleges count 1st semester of 12th grade in the GPA, or do most, if not all, colleges cap the GPA at 10 and 11th grades only ?</p>
<p>My sister applied EA to Yale last fall, and she was worried that her Freshman and Sophomore years would impact their decision making (even though Freshman year is regarded as "transition year"). However, she did much better during 11th and 12th. And guess what? She was accepted! I'm going to try and follow in her footsteps too, although I'm only a freshman this fall. Maybe the college you want to attend looks at 11th and 12th and takes a quick peek at 10th. Who knows, it's a huge mystery. My opinion, although I'm pretty naive, is that admissions officers are pretty random, and it's totally up to you to show them just how qualified you are for their insitute- by doing the best you can for however long you have left until you graduate. Anyways, don't lose focus and try your best. :]</p>
<p>To some schools, and upward curve in your performance from D's to B's and A's is more meaningful than a straight line of B's. Some schools ignore the freshman year completely.</p>