<p>Ok so as a freshman i played around and didnt try at all and ended up getting a 3.2 weighted and 3.1 unweighted. This year as a sophomroe i got a 3.85 weighted 3.7 unweighted 1st semester and a 4.0 weighted 3.7 unweighted second semester.(I added a 2nd AP2nd semester). Most sophomores at my school only take 1 AP however im one of about 10 sophomores who took 2. Next year I signed up for 3 AP's and 1 IB class. But despite all my hard work this year and the hard work i plan to put in next year, will my freshman grades keep me from getting into the colleges I want to go to?</p>
<p>UPenn
GWU
NYU
Georgetown
Northwestern</p>
<p>Colleges tend to merely glance at your freshman year and focus on your sophomore and junior years. If you continue to take more challenging courses, that would give you an edge in the admission process. Granted, grades are not the sole determining factor for acceptance and so, you must not forget about balancing your academics with your extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Well, upward trends in GPA are always better than downward trends. I know a 3.1 GPA is low for CC standards, but it really is a decent GPA. It’s above average (speaking at the high school level). Look up the Common Data Sets of all the schools you mentioned. Look at Part C. There you will find information about how much emphasis is out on GPA, test scores, ECs, etc. as well as average entering freshman GPA. </p>
<p>tl;dr… No, I don’t think your freshman grades will kill you.</p>
<p>Yes it will kill you. I had a 4.0 my freshman year and didn’t get into a single University let alone Ivy</p>
<p>^ There are other components to an application besides GPA…</p>
<p>And one anecdotal example is just making generalizations. Just because ONE kid with a 4.0 didn’t get in anywhere doesn’t mean that NO sub-4.0 kids have a chance at top colleges. That’s just one example. Perhaps trolling.</p>
<p>Also, @CollegeUser, public and UC admissions work completely differently than those of private schools. Not sure about the ones OP listed in particular, but in my experience privates more frequently boast of a holistic admissions process, with more emphasis on essays rather than numbers.</p>
<p>I’m in the exact same boat as you. Literally, same grades and same class scheduling. I’m an instate kid aiming of UMich. What I’ve heard is that the upward trend is much much more desirable to colleges than a downwards one, but that kids with consistently high grades (as expected) have an edge over kids like us.</p>
<p>Think about it, Southend - there are millions of kids who have a slow start in freshman year (especially guys) but they get it together as they mature and end up being great students by senior year. No, they might not get into the same schools as the kids who had top grades the entire time (although boys have a better shot at it than girls in the same situation). But they do end up going to good schools and end up doing very well.</p>
<p>So do yourself a favor and look beyond your ‘reaches’ (the usual suspects, so to speak) for all the really amazing schools out there that welcome the kids who took an extra year or so to reach their full potential.</p>
<p>^ +1 to M’s Mom’s post.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback, I feel a lot better!</p>
<p>GPA is only one factor. Colleges also look at test scores, ecs, and essays. Also, most places look at your overall gpa more. It seems like you have a rigorous course load to, so that should help you.</p>
<p>@reedite my friend also had a 4.0 and he got rejected as well</p>
<p>Okay, so that’s only TWO examples of kids who didn’t get in based on ONE criterion. Generalizations, generalizations.</p>
<p>You also had a 1750 SAT score and for all we know wrote lackluster essays. Maybe you’re not URM. There is more to college admissions than GPA. </p>
<p>Edit: Looking at your other posts, you have a UC GPA of 3.96 which includes weighted classes. Looks like you had a downward trend, which is not good. Also you applied for an impacted major at a public university. Public university admissions processes do NOT equal those of private institutions. They are entirely different. So please do not try to discourage other students with misinformation (or a lack of information). Every student is different and every situation is different. Don’t try to make generalizations and compare publics to privates and make predictions based solely on one or two factors.</p>