D's freshman grades dragging down GPA

cptofthehouse
Sun, 01 Oct 2006 23:38:18 +0000

I agree that a bad freshman year is not going to necessarily be the sinker. I sounded waaaay to pessimistic in my post, I know. Yes, there are students who get in despite a bad freshman year, and there are top schools that say right out that they do not look at the freshman year.

However, this question comes up often in my sons’ private school where many kids do not do so well freshman year, as some have come to the school for the academic rigor from middle schools without the rigorous standards. First quarter is usually panic time for those parents who see letters of the alphabet they have never seen, since to get into this school, you have to be a good student. The question that comes up is inevitably the one the OP asks.

The answer each year is the same. An honest “yes” that it does happen that the grade deflation at schools like this can possibly make a difference, though first quarter grades are mitagated by the other three quarters and the school only reports final year grades. Most kids do bring up those first quarter grades as the year procedes. Those schools that are used to dealing with this school take all of this into consideration, and they are well aware of the grade deflation. However, there are some schools that do not. There have been times when a bad first year just is not overcome well enough by future years’ grades, and it can be a reason for being waitlisted or even rejected, over being accepted. A few years ago this situation occured to a young man we know who is a legacy at a highly selective universtiy. Though he had excellent grades for the type of highschool he was in, the first year was dicey, with an upward crescendo to a perfect 4.0 senior year. But the adcom at the uni bluntly said that it was the reason for rejection; they had too many kids just like him but also with a better gpa. Now had he also been carrying some hooks that made him more distinguished, it could have made a difference despite the gpa. But given his profile, he needed a better transcript.

My son did not do well his first two years of highschool, and he still got into schools that kids with his profile AND better grades did. I didn’t see any thing that indicated that his waitlists and rejections were due to those early highschool years which did surprise me. And I am sure that there are many such examples. But there are schools that have come right out and said to the gcs that the early grades were the Waterloo of the students’ records simply because there were just too many kids just like these kids with perfect records in spite of tough circumstances.