<p>What is an average GPA at top tier schools for the first semester freshman? </p>
<p>What courses are the most difficult?</p>
<p>In better colleges, the average freshman gpa is 2.8. Is this also typical of the first year at better preps.</p>
<p>bumpty bump</p>
<p>yes C+ or B-s are the average grade throughout prep schools not just for freshman year</p>
<p>Are you sure about that? I saw an article about people makeing it onto the honor roll at Exeter and I think that requires A’s and 2 or 3 B’s. The people were from all grade levels.</p>
<p>key word here is AVERAGE grades
of course there are kids who make honor roll as a freshman</p>
<p>At St. Paul’s last year 44.1% of the 3rd formers (freshmen) received a Testimonial (equivalent of honor role) for the year. At SPS they have: High Honors (HH), Honors (H), High Pass (HP), Pass (P) and Unsatisfactory(U). A “Second Testimonial” requires that all grades be Honors (H) or above. A “First Testimonial” requires 2 HH’s and 3 H’s. A “First Testimonial with Honors” requires 4 HH’s and 1 H. If you take 6 courses (a few do) then the rules differ. Also realize that a disproportionate % of the students on ‘Scholastic Review’ tend to be new students. The same happens in college for Freshman, especially for those that have not been to boarding school and have to learn to adjust and set their own schedules. Make sense?</p>
<p>Overall, I would not worry about Freshman year. At most of these schools it is a year to settle in and adjust, and colleges never look at it. The above %'s have moved up a bit in recent years. The head of academics who tracks all the students, maintains that it is Not grade inflation, but rather students working exceptionally hard. The suspicion is that more of you are more scared about grades than your predecessors. Given the demographics, a little fear is understandable.</p>
<p>@Winterset - Could it also be a shift in admissions, selecting kids who they believe will be able to hit the ground running? </p>
<p>I think this generation is prone to hyper-achievement. They have a more global view and realize that they are not just competing with their local school classmates, but kids from everywhere. </p>
<p>Then again, some of them are just thirsty. When they finally get to a well, they drink as much as they can.</p>
<p>Could be any or all of those. The faculty is convinced it is the students not inflation, and some of them were there when I was 39 years ago. So they would know.</p>
<p>Winterset, is it true that colleges never look at freshmen year grades? I’ve heard that they put more emphasis on junior and senior year grades, but by “never look at” do you mean they’d exclude them in the calculation of overall GPA as I have learned that many colleges do calculate GPA’s themselves when the school doesn’t (or sometimes does) provide GPA with transcripts. I am new to college stuff and would appreciate your input.</p>
<p>I certainly agree that most colleges don’t focus on grades from freshmen year. However, many of the more exciting summer opportunities do. This goes for both experiential as well as academic based programs. Sadly, unlike colleges, most summer programs/internships do not take the school’s profile into consideration. So a BS student’s B average may appear inferior to an A average for a student from a mediocre HS. That’s why it’s always important to build the BS experience into any summer application essays, where practical. And try your best to keep your grades up, without of course, going nuts.</p>
<p>Not only will colleges modify the GPA for select years, but most will also recalculate GPA for “core courses.” Sorry for those who have just registered for that GPA-building, easy A, Ultimate Frisbee class. While it may prove to be an awesome workout, it won’t do much for you in the eyes of college ad coms.</p>
<p>colleges do look at freshman year grades - they may not be as important as 11th and 12th, but they are still noted - and if freshman year grades aren’t good, they want to see an upward trend in grades through the years</p>
<p>I think it’s easier to do better freshman year (at least for my son). The older he gets, the more difficult his courses become (AP’s, higher levels of coursework, etc.).</p>