Upward trend

Hello, guys!

I have a question in terms of high school GPA - if someone got a 1.0 GPA freshman year, but got a 4.0 GPA for the rest of his high school career, would that look good on college applications?

Keep in mind that the 4.0’s were in AP/IB/Honors Classes. Would I be at a huge disadvantage? Or would college admission officers forgive me?

Thanks,
CC Member 2016

It depends on the school. While schools generally look favorably upon an upward GPA trend, some schools may have requirements such as passing 4 years of English with a C or above. And then there are other schools that only look at GPA starting sophomore year.

it will hurt you, but not too drastically. Obviously it doesn’t look as good as someone who has maintained a 4.0 throughout all of high school, but with solid test scores and extracurriculars, you’ll still have a decent shot at Ivy-esque schools.

Take a look at some schools that ignore freshman year. (UCs, JHU, etc). Your freshman year will still hurt your chances a bit in that it will lower your class rank though.

@Speedy212 thank you!

@sophie9999 appreciate it!