<p>“There’s at least one (Stanford) that says it doesn’t look at freshman grades at all.”</p>
<p>Princeton has said this in the past.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon recalculates the GPA using grades 10-12. I think that is brilliant!</p>
<p>Stanford doesn’t even consider freshman year of HS. Colleges will calculate their own gpa, often discarding grade weighting. A 3.4 unweighted gpa , even in AP and Honors classes doesn’t seem very high to me. A 3.3 is a B+ average. Many students taking the AP/Honors classes will get A’s in most of the classes.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. My S has a terrible grade from 8th grade and as it was algebra it will be on his transcript (yes, I’m sure. Yes, I know that’s not normal fit most. Trust me, I wish it wasn’t the case). Anyway one of the schools he liked is in fact suggesting he re-take it. If your S has any ideas of places he will apply, I’d consider calling and asking their thoughts. The school in question here said it would show maturity and that he cared enough to show he could be successful in the class- go figure.</p>
<p>Most high schools will not let you “replace” a grade unless you earned a D or an F. This keeps the B students from retaking a class so they can get an A. The transcript will show the original grade ( in parenthesis ) and then the new grade. The new grade is used for class rank ( at some schools). Given the fact that a student initially earned a D or an F in the class, they would not be worrying about selective college admissions. If they are, then they have probably fixed the initial problem and colleges can see the trend.</p>
<p>Retaking failed classes way after the fact? …maybe too little too late.</p>
<p>I would retake some classes but talk with his guidance counselor first and I would some additional core community college classes not elective classes that he can definitely A’s because the more classes you take and get A’s in them the higher your unweighted GPA and definitely weighted GPA will be. Again, talk to his guidance counselor about this.</p>
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<p>Freshman grades are dropped from the CA state schools’ GPA calculation completely. </p>
<p><a href=“CaliforniaColleges.edu”>CaliforniaColleges.edu;
<p>OP, whatever his reasons for not wanting to do it, listen to your son on this one.</p>