Long story short- some of my 2nd semester grades tanked (C- in Math being the lowest) during the COVID19 Online courses my Freshman year. I am hoping to attend UW Madison. Does anyonr know much these grades will impact my admission chances? Will colleges review grades received during online classes differently?
Does your school not grant P/F? or the online course is not your regular school class? What was your GPA on first semester of you freshman year?if it show up trend in your sophomore and junior years, it will be fine.
However, UW admission average unweighted GPA is 3.8. If you are below 3.5 by junior year, you chance is slim. Maybe you have other hooks like URM etc.
This is uncharted territory. Given that most people with bad grades would have had a pass/fail option, I would expect grades from this year to be severely down-weighted in all admissions processes. And a lot depends on the narrative you build over the next three years.
Keep working hard, get back to your prior performance and you will be OK – I promise!
Improving grades will mean a lot. Therefore you can get better grades the following years. btw- review material you missed learning this year so that next year you are not catching up. Use this summer to shore up those areas.