Freshman year I got a 3.75 unweighted GPA. Then, sophomore year came around and I got a 3.3. Why? I can’t really say besides the fact that school was not my #1 priority at the time. I don’t want to get into it. But, junior year I got a 4.0 unweighted GPA both semesters. I also take honors classes which means my weighted GPA is higher. But… will colleges look at the dip in my grades as a bad thing?
@alexlaurenk - you can talk about your upward progress in the “additional info” section of the common app. IMO, your cumulative GPA is the first thing they will look at. If that is in their range (assuming all other aspects of your app are in their range as well), they may or may not worry about a one year low GPA.
Colleges like an upward projection.