<p>Yes, straight A’s would still make a difference in your Freshman year since it shows you are an academically committed student. But admissions for the CSU/UC’s are usually more forgiving if you do not have a stellar grades your Freshman year versus Sophomore and especially Junior year. If you are applying to privates, OOS publics and elite schools, then all grades will have an impact. I am speaking specifically for the CSU/UC’s regarding their GPA calculation. Then there is the exception Cal State, Cal Poly SLO which uses 9th grades in their GPA calculation, plus all schools will recalculate your GPA and use unweighted and weighted… It is of course to your advantage to have top grades all four years. </p>
<p>Also an FYI: My younger son accepted his admission to SDSU and one of his required documents after his acceptance was to send in his Mid-year grades so make sure he was keeping on track with his GPA.
My older son was only required to send his final transcripts at the end of his Senior year to UCD.
Every school is different so I would not generalize.</p>
<p>My son’s guidance counselor told them that Freshman/Sophomore/Junior year grades will help you get into a college but Senior year grades will help keep you in that college. </p>