<p>Unfortuantely I had a bad fall semester (my first semester of college). I got:
A-
A-
B-
B</p>
<p>3 of the 4 classes were honors classes; i go to unlv btw
My GPA came out to be 3.21 :( I am applying to USC and I am a bit worried and im praying that they don't rely on this fall's performance for heavy consideration. I had a strong HS record 4.6 weighted gpa, 3.98 unweighted. 1270 sat. I feel i had a strong essay and pretty good recs. Im PRAYING that this fall hasn't messed up my chances. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Will this past semester's grades be a a heavy factor?</p>
<p>when it comes to college grades, all are given equal weight, unlike freshman applications, in which sometimes less weight is given to grades from 4 years prior to the app. the equivalent of that in the transfer process is the lower weight given to HS grades as compared to college grades.</p>
<p>if you wrote an essay explaining the grades they might look at your progress and consider the more recent grades as your true capabilities. Your gpa is the underlying factor; if you're gpa is competitive they'll do some more research and look at grade trends e.c's ect. My first semester was horrible. 2 c's 9and 2 other c's in non-transferable classes), but my mom works at a grocery store so i explained the tough times during that strike which happened to be during my bad semester. I'd think they would consider the hard times and look more at my recent work which has improved ten fold. Just my opinion.. i dont work at the usc admissions office....</p>
<p>So Northrams, are you saying that they will look more heavily upon my freshman fall semester than my HS grades? Btw, in my essay i did explain the reason behind my performance. I simply overwhelmed myself this semester, with a 32 hr/wk job, pledging for a frat (ALOT of time believe it or not), tennis club, and church. I hope the fact that I was taking rather hard honors classes also helps.</p>
<p>admissions isnt random. It's not rocket science... their computers will rank you by gpa and the ones that are on the cut off are looked into. There is no way that'll take all transfer applications and pick them out of a hat. They pay people to review apps..these people are honored to admit students and want the best for their colleges.</p>
<p>yeah my first semester did not go too smoothly either. started with a bad enrollment date, got a hard teacher for chem and took pol philosophy class that made me to fall as sleep. ANyhow i got B in both those classes, luckily my other two classes English and Music turned out A. ALso 10 units from b4 made my GPA 3.67. Hopefully tomorrow i will get an A in my class and it will go to 3.71.</p>
<p>not uncommon for people to get off to a slow start</p>
<p>USC, im saying that your freshman grades, in conjunction with your other three semesters, as a whole will get more weight than ur HS grades. the one semester on its own wont get more attention than HS grades, the effect of it on your cumulative GPA, however, will.</p>
<p>northrams, I'm confused, USC is a sophomore applicant. He/she only has ONE complete college semester under his/her belt. What are you referring to when you say "in conjunction with your other three semesters..."?</p>
<p>I think that the longer you spent in college, the more your college grades will count. But since it is your first semester in college, they don't have much to look at and thus it won't be counted as heavily. But certainly it will matter and matter a little (very little) more than your H.S.</p>
<p>BUt if you are applying as a junior transfer, then your H.s. grades would mean very very little.</p>
<p>kk is wrong. they place the most weight on college gpa- even for applicants applying for sophmore year. as long as you did decently in high school, your college gpa is much more important than high school or SAT scores. if you are applying with more than 30 completed units at the time of your application, you do not even have to send SAT scores. don't worry a 3.2 is fine. their average for acceptance last year was a 3.5 college gpa. that means for every 3.8 they accept, there is a 3.2</p>
<p>thanks, im feelin a little more confident...but i canot help thinking how much getting an A in one of those classes i got a B in, would change my chances!!!! a 3.2 sounds so low.......it just has a certain connotation.</p>
<p>ok then my mistake. i misread your question. since what u are in essence asking is "will a bad college GPA hurt my chances to transfer?" answer is pretty much the same: yes. college GPA is the keystone of an application.</p>
<p>um dunno hard to tell. U're applying w/ less than 60 units i am assuming. USC wesbite said that they do factor in HS GPA and SAT scores. But it says that their average was 3.5 a year ago. </p>
<p>So i am guessing ur chances are 50-50 like other have stated.</p>