How common is it for schools to throw out freshman year grades?

Applying to College
1

<p>The reason I ask is because this would be a BAD thing for me. I've always been a strong student, all Honors/APs and whatnot, but that was when I had my highest GPA. I managed straight A's freshman year but choked at the end of sophomore and got one B+. Junior year was when my GPA took a hit; I had a disastrous time of precalculus and physics, garnering a C+ and B respectively.</p>

<p>Looked at as a whole, with only 3 non-A's in my high school career, I ought to appear a worthy student who had some hard classes one year. With 9th grade out of the equation, this is less apparent.</p>

<p>Knowledge?</p>

2

<p>I'd also like to know the answer to this question.</p>

3

<p>Please, guys?</p>

4

<p>I believe they look at all four years equally. I obviously don't know for sure (senior in HS) but that's what our guidance counselors told us</p>

5

<p>some scores recalculate your GPA- and in that calculation may not include freshman year, but freshman year is not ignored by any means</p>

6

<p>Well its pretty obvious they DONT look at all 4 years equally.</p>

<p>Freshmen year is the least important. Junior year is probably the most important, as well as 1st semester senior year.</p>

<p>Colleges are likely to overlook a bad freshmen year that they are a bad junior year.</p>

<p>*and even though only UC's, Stanford, Princeton, and a few others completely throw away freshmen grades, most colleges place little importance on it. </p>

<p>However, a bad freshmen year will obviously kill your rank.</p>

7

<p>I too would like to know. My son had was quite immature as a freshman tand had a 3.0 his freshman year. Each semester his GPA has improved, until now as a Senior he is getting getting all A's, and this in AP classes. The UW GPA ends up at around 3.5, which doesn't match his SAT's of 2240.</p>

<p>So, how much do admissions committees factor in improvement over the course of the high school career, especially if the more recent grades are more consistent with the SAT's?</p>

8

<p>just went to a meeting with 3 UC representatives, and they don't "throw out" freshman grades, they may not calculate in the GPA, but they ABSOLUTELY look at it, and not just with a glance</p>

<p>and this is what they ALL said</p>

<p>they use it as a foundation to where you have gone, and a B or C won't kill you</p>

9

<p>Well, I've got the opposite problem from most people. Instead of having a lousy freshman year and improving, I started at the top and had nowhere to go but down. It is most displeasing.</p>

10

<p>kidchicago said it all in post #6 above.</p>

11

<p>the general consensus that i got when visiting schools is that want to see an upward trend that continues to college, a downward trend is very bad.</p>

12

<p>Just because they say they don't care about freshmen year grades doesn't mean the admissions officers won't see it...</p>

13

<p>Well huh. If I'd known that I would have flunked a few tests in 9th grade and given myself some actual room for improvement.</p>