<p>@dream: Actually, only at the top schools. Lesser schools look at your GPA, and a bad freshman year generally kills that.</p>
<p>@lookingforward: Yes, but top colleges are deciding using a totally different framework. They care about the person, not the record — and that means emphasizing indicators of what a person is like right now, not merely of how well they did in high school.</p>
<p>They are more picky, but also more discriminating. More thoughtful about this sort of thing.</p>