<p>Right now I am a freshman in college with average first semester grades. I know that the second semester of my freshman year my grades will be better. When applying do colleges just look at your first semester grades or both semester grades? When is the best time to apply to begin my sophmore year at a new university?</p>
<p>They look at all grades they can. Look at the schools web sites to see what the deadlines are for transfer applicants.</p>
<p>Some transfer application deadlines have already closed, but if your choice school’s hasn’t - apply now. They will look at your first college semester grades as well as your high school grades (and possibly test scores). If you apply next year, they will look at both of your freshman semesters.</p>
<p>I applied to transfer to 12 schools last year. The earliest deadline of them all was Feb. 1. The vast majority were between mid-late March to mid-April. </p>
<p>Since you’re a freshman, many of them will look at jr/sr years of HS, your first semester in college, and your mid-term grades of your second semester. It all depends on where you apply, but the vast majority of the schools I applied to last year looked at my mid-second semester freshman year (they were Common App schools).</p>
If I only took three courses (which is recommended for freshmen at my school–but I figured most schools want students to take at least four to five courses) for the first semester, would it hurt my chance a lot? I’m taking 5 courses next semester. I got 3.89 at one of the top 20-something universities. Also, I got one B in my senior spring (senioritis + hard course (Shakespeare) + harsh grader) would that hurt my chance? I’m trying to apply to schools like Columbia. I have a solid reason for transferring.