Will seven Bs and a C ruin my chances at selective schools?

The Bs and the C were all from freshman year and I’ve managed to get straight As since then. The C was because my teacher wouldn’t let me take a test from when I was absent (the class was Spanish 1).

You can certainly explain that in the additional information section of the common application, and your upward trend will help, but at schools that count your freshman year grades it could possibly hurt you.

It’ll hurt your chances. What is your unweighted GPA and rank, if applicable?

EDIT:

Based on your chance thread, a 3.71 isn’t too bad after sophomore year. You can certainly bring it up considerably if you get straight A’s your junior year and make yourself competitive for all the schools you’ve mentioned. Try to get your rank into the top 10 percent and get good scores (preferably 2100+).