<p>From Freshman to Junior year, my grades have been all over the place, but with a slight downward trend. I ended up with an unweighted GPA of 3.6. If I get exceptional grades in the first semester of senior year, will colleges colleges see this as a positive and consider it to be part of the gpa "trend"?</p>
<p>Yes, though make sure you apply regular decision, rather than ED or EA.</p>
<p>Ok in your case, colleges will see this as slightly a bad thing. However, if you have an exceptional senior year, you should be fine as long as you have decent test scores. A great senior year will show that you are not lazy and ready for the challenges you could face in college. For example, a good gpa trend is going from a 3.3 freshmen year, to a 3.6 sophomore year, to a 3.9 junior year. Another example is having a 3.7 freshmen year, 3.6 sophomore year, and a 3.8 junior year. Good gpa trends show your gpa has been increasing over the course of your high school career or stayed very consistent where the gpa remains almost the same each year. Bad gpa trends from freshmen to junior year are 4.0, 3.7, 3.2 and 3.4, 3.9, 3.2. As you can see from the bad gpa trends, you have the decline in gpa from the least important year to most important year and the inconsistency in the second example. But don’t worry too much, as long as you have a strong first semester senior year colleges will see that you are willing to put forth the effort.</p>
<p>I see. Would they also consider the fact that I’ve had a progressively more rigorous class schedule in the last three years? I went from only 1 honors class in freshman year to all APs and honors in my junior year.</p>
<p>Colleges look at your transcript not GPA alone. If someone has an outstanding GPA all four years at a 4.0, it might not necessarily look good to some schools because you aren’t taking any honors. But it is better for your case because colleges will recognize that you are challenging yourself because you are taking many honors and AP’s.</p>