<p>Okay, so here's my problem. Fresham year I messed up and got a 3.5, however I've done a lot better since.
Freshman Year: 3.5/3.5
Honors English: B
Honors Earth Science: A
Geometry: B
German I: B
Gym: A
Health: A
LCW: A
Honors Government: B
Guitar Ensemble: A (performing group more along lines of orchestra not the joke guitar lab classes.)</p>
<p>Sophomore Year: 4.0/4.125
Honors English: A
Honors Biology: A
AP European: A (4 on Exam)
Algebra II: A
German II: A
Tech Ed: A
Gym: A
Guitar Ensemble: A</p>
<p>Junior Year: 3.875/4.25
AP United States: A (5 on exam)
AP Government: A (5 on exam)
AP Psychology: A
Honors English: A
Trigonometry: A
Gym: A
German III: A
Honors Chemistry: B</p>
<p>Senior Year: Projected 4.0/4.875
German IV: A
AP Computer Science: A
AP English: A
AP Micro Economics: A
AP Calculus: A
AP World: A
AP Human Geography: A
AP Environmental Science: A</p>
<p>So not including senior year I have a 3.79 unweighted GPA and my class rank is 18/345 or top 5.2%. So this is not a "chance" thread. I'm purposely omitting my SAT's/EC's because I want an answer pertaining just to my gpa. After first semester of senior year if I get straight A's (which I think I can) I'll have a 3.83 unweighted. My class rank will also improve from 18/345 to probably 13-14/345. I guess my question is will top schools such as Duke, Michigan, UVa, etc. hold my slightly lower GPA against me? Or are colleges relatively forgiving of freshman year? Take out freshman year and I only got one B in high school with 11 AP classes! If it matters at all I found out my gc will be checking "most rigorous." I'm think perhaps my two 5's and a 4 on my AP test may make up some lost ground, I don't know though. Thanks guys! Like I said I don't want to find out if I have a chance at duke but rather when you look at the information I provided do you think my gpa will be a handicap due to freshman year. Thanks!</p>
<p>Thank you for not posting ECs and GPA so that we’d all have to play the “balance out” game, especially since none of us are even qualified to predict college application process success!</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t hold your freshman year GPA against you. But a school like Duke might say “if Student X really wanted to go here, she/he would have worked all four years as hard as possible to make her/himself as competitive as possible.”</p>
<p>But honestly, APPLY. The worst a school can say is No.</p>
<p>As the first respondent indicated, none of us are qualified to predict admissions success. I just sigh at all the “chance me” threads. At the most selective schools, there are multiple kids with virtually identical quantitative stats who are rejected for every similar kid accepted. May be a 5 to 1 ratio or worse! So how can you say with confidence which kid the poster will be? You can’t, and it may come down to what else they “bring to the table” - like a musical or athletic skill, and the inclination to use it? </p>
<p>As far as the question on grades go, sure, it’s always better to have straight As. But it’s really good to show an upward trajectory, too. That’s the next best thing, and depending on the rest of your application, they may rather have someone who was a late bloomer academically who brings a lot of other things to the table, than an academic machine who isn’t going to contribute much to campus life. So it all depends. </p>
<p>I suggest you utilize a limited portion of one of Duke’s required (or the optional) essays to explain WHY your attitude toward high school academics changed and HOW this resulted in much improved grades. To do so is straightforward, it may also provide admissions officers with positive insight regarding your maturation and commitment to intellectual growth, and therefore it potentially could make this apparently adverse information a reason to distinguish your candidacy from the (likely) 30,000+ other outstanding applicants.</p>
<p>Just like admissions people look at an application holistically, you have to look at your own stats holistically. They will see you worked hard to improve your grades which is great but at the same time they will wonder why you didn’t do so great your freshman year. You need to play the balance out game with your EC and test scores to see if you have a shot.</p>
<p>I doubt Duke will hold it against you that you received some Bs when you were 14 years old. You have shown that you can get top grades over the past few years. Just my guess though.</p>
I believe Michigan doesn’t consider freshman year grades at all for anybody. At least, that was the case about 5-10 years ago unless they’ve changed it. Michigan also didn’t care if you took honors/AP courses at all as they just re-calculated your GPA (this is when they had the point system in place that was struck down by the Supreme Court, though, so they may have changed their evaluation system a bit since then). Duke DOES consider freshman year grades, but if you’ve shown a positive upward trend, then that won’t hurt you nearly as much. Hope that helps. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but it’s not like they will completely ignore it either (except for Michigan). If you’re in the top 5% of your high school class, that indicates that you have done very well. Good luck.</p>