<p>Graduate admissions is not all about GPA because graduate school is not remotely all about classroom performance. Grades are one component of a much broader, qualitative, holistic assessment of candidates.</p>
<p>If the OP even has a few Cs and Bs on the transcript, but two years of progressively-responsible research and high-quality recommendations from professors, the latter will be deemed far more important and persuasive than a couple middling grades - much less a single C in freshman year.</p>
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There is no reason to worry about or care about what anyone else is doing, given that it’s entirely out of your control.</p>