Which Ivies Don't Look at Freshman Grades?????

Applying to College
1

I screwed up my freshman year of HS

1st semester got a B- in english due to my unfair teacher (not an excuse)
2nd semester got a B in english for the same reason

Everything else were A’s

For the ivies that don’t look at your freshman grades, will this still affect my GPA? In other words, will the ivies be using their own “Ivy GPA” and not include my freshman grades?

Do Ivies use + and - ? For example, would the value of a “B-” be the same as a “B+”? My HS does not incorporate + and - so will this somehow affect my GPA?

I know ivies look at class rank, which is going to be including my freshman grades. D:

Any tips would be appreciated :smiley:

2

They all look at freshman year grades; most colleges do. That’s 1/3 of your transcript at the time you apply.

If your HS does not use pluses and minuses, does your transcript say you got a B both semesters? That’s what they’ll see and use.

ETA: A B in one class overall isn’t bad, though! I doubt that alone would keep you out.

3

Stanford isn’t an Ivy, but they only look at grades from sophomore year and onward–so they’ve said.

4

Honestly, a B in freshman year won’t really affect you at all. Just get all A’s after…

5

Ok thanks for helping people

6

Yale looks but I know someone who got in with a few Bs early on

7

If Stanford does not look at Freshman year, what if it was really good? Do they not count it

8

@SaphireNY yea these top colleges don’t tend to trust freshman year grades as a reliable assessment of your academic achievement so they probably wouldn’t consider it when they recalculate your gpa according to their scale. But it does play into class rank im sure so it should be reflected there.

To the OP: do not worry about a B in freshman year english plz

9

Class rank? What if my school does not rank

10

not 100 percent sure, but i think princeton only count 10-12

11

Yes, I’ve heard that of Princeton as well!

12

Edit: Someone said what I was going to say already.

13

Although some schools such as Princeton claim they don’t look at freshman year grades, when you’re required to accept 1 in 15 applicants, you may need as much info as you can get.

Also, please don’t make your title all CAPS next time.

14

I don’t know that 2 Bs in freshman year is “screwing up.”

15

I know that a lot people last year claimed Johns Hopkins doesn’t count freshman year but I emailed them to confirm they do

16

yeah, sure, and you’ll note that they also use Class Rank which…wait…for…it…includes Frosh grades.

17

@bluebayou, my school doesn’t report class rank or GPA - just sends in a copy of the transcript. So am I in the all-clear? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

18

@bluebayou I clearly said I wasnt 100% sure that it was true so I’m not sure whether to read your comment with sass or not. Either way frosh grades do count in class rank, but doing better 10-12 can improve your class’s rank dramatically. As living proof I was 161 my freshman year and now I’m 19/690 going into my senior year.

19

Not necessarily. Your HS presumably has a Profile – ask your GC to see a copy – from which experienced adcoms can estimate your rank.

Not directed at you, but rather P’ton (and all colleges in general). Y’all need to put on your critical thinking skills cap and start to recognize spin and inconsistencies in the college’s marketing materials – like their websites.

Great job, but think about it from an adcom’s perspective. To accept you, over the other 18 kids in your HS class, you would have to offer really special. It can happen, but rarely does.

20

btw: just to add another factoid: approximately 40% of Dartmouth’s matriculants were Val/Sal in their HS class. I would assume that P’ton is even higher. Given that D is small school and a bunch of others are recruited athletes, i.e., hooked applicants, the numbers are clear, Frosh grades matter despite what spin-meisters say. If the college didn’t use Frosh grades, they wouldn’t ask for them. For example, UC claims that it ignores Frosh grades and used to, back in the dark ages. At that time, UC did not even receive Frosh grades. Now, even though UC still claims to ignore Frosh grades, they ask for them on the application. Hmmmmmm.