Do I have to explain my academic probation my first semester? I got a 1.9 my first semester but then if I slowly raise my gpa to a 3.7 by senior year would that tell grad schools that that semester was just a fluke and not how much I can truly achieve? Would they favor this trend?
I honestly do not think they will care about your freshman GPA but your current overall GPA and your GPA in your major.
I agree with the above post but it depends on the competitiveness of your school. Harvard, for instance, is very unlikely to accept you if you had a 1.9 GPA freshman year, even if there is a positive trend. Perhaps a 2.6 would be better in that case.
Why did you get a 1.9 GPA freshman year? If you don’t know, then you need to figure out what’s going on and not worry about grad school. If you do know the issues that plagued you, then keep working to bring up your GPA and focus on your coursework. You’ve got time to worry about grad school later.