I saw a post that some CA schools do not use freshman grades to calculate GPA. Are there others school that do this as well? We are in GA and S1 is a Junior and had trouble first semester freshman year. So a school that does not look at those grades would be for him. Right now he has a 3.67 (unweighted, his school does not used weighted GPA) and a 35 on his ACT. If you take out his freshman year he would have a 3.9. He is interested is a STEM but not sure what major. Thanks for any information.
Many schools look at all the grades, but they look at them holistically. If you hunt around you see articles by reporters who were allowed to sit in and observe the admissions process. They have conversations that go something like this:
Hmm AOPkid only has a 3.67 GPA.
Yeah, but that’s unweighted.
That’s right, and not only that, but it looks like all his bad grades are freshman year.
His grades aren’t too good in Latin too.
Well, Latin is hard, my grades weren’t so hot in Latin either. And look, even though his grades aren’t great, he got a silver medal in the National Latin exam, maybe the teacher doesn’t give out a lot of As.
What’s his course rigor like?
Pretty good. He took AP Bio, and AP US history as a junior and he’s taking four more APs this year. And they aren’t the easy APs either. He’s in AP Calculus BC, and Physics C, AP English Lit and AP Euro. I’d say he’s solid.
So, yeah, they see the freshman grades, but see the progress too.
The UC’s and all Canadian schools do not look at grade 9.
Stanford does not use freshman grades. UW Madison uses unweighted grades and improving grades make a difference. Junior year is the one that counts most because that is the last complete year colleges see. An upward trend shows maturing and colleges can see that.
Do not worry about the freshman year. Remind your son to do his best this year (and senior year) as this is the year that represents who he is now. Good grades show that he knows how to study and get the work done. Regardless of his innate ability (the ACT score) he needs those good habits to do well in college. Kudos to him.
Wish my son with the ACT 35 had kept up his first semesters of HS top grades- he was bored and didn’t do as well, especially senior year. That is all ancient history for us, btw.
Thanks so much for your replies! The whole process can be a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it is not easy to see the big picture, with so many schools and not knowing how he fits in with all the stats on the schools. Right now he is looking at Lehigh, Stevens Institute, Ga Tech and maybe Olin.
UC’s and Cal states do not use 9th grades for their GPA calculation (exception is Cal Poly SLO) but you still self report 9th grades to make sure you pass the a-g course requirements.
Our high school doesn’t submit freshman grades on the transcripts.
@MaterS Do colleges push back on that at all?
Not at all, but it is a nationally known school.
It is said that Carnegie Mellon does not use Freshman grades in their GPA calculation.
Thanks for the information.
I would not pay OOS rates for a UC just because they don’t look at freshman year grades. Colleges look holistically for the very reason you speak of…it took a while for your son to get going, but now your son is excelling in harder classes, and that is what colleges want.