<p>San Francisco Chronicle
by Joanne Levy-Prewit</p>
<p>"My student reluctantly passed the transcript across the table to me. “I don’t know what happened in my sophomore year,” he said. "I guess I screwed up…"However, despite my efforts, the numbers were clear: He would not be eligible for the University of California, the state’s most selective system. …</p>
<p>His test scores were fine, but his GPA just didn’t add up. Despite a few scattered A’s and B’s in his freshman and junior years, his sophomore year sealed his fate.</p>
<p>The University of California doesn’t use freshman grades when determining GPA, so with five C’s in his sophomore year, my student had closed the door to one of the most prestigious, respected and affordable university systems in the country. He was several tenths of a point away from eligibility…</p>
<p>There is a misconception that in college admission, the junior year grades are the most important. In fact, colleges look at an overall average GPA from either sophomore and junior years or all of high school. Some also look at first semester grades from senior year. Junior year grades are important because that is when many students take their most challenging courses, but those grades don’t necessarily have more weight than the grades from other years. Colleges will be mindful of upward trends in grades, but a dismally low GPA is hard to overcome…</p>
<p>All is not lost, though. Fortunately, my student was happy to learn that he was eligible for admission at many other colleges and universities. …</p>
<p>[COLLEGE</a> BOUND / A weekly guide to higher education](<a href=“http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/18/BA5MTCG8L.DTL]COLLEGE”>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/18/BA5MTCG8L.DTL)</p>
<p>This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle</p>