Transcript / GPA question

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I transferred schools a couple times but ended up graduating with a pretty good GPA of 3.463 and probably closer to a 3.8 for my last 60 credit hours. I know some schools like McCombs say they go buy your last 60 credit hours. My case is a little different, after my freshmen year i transferred to a large state university in another state for a semester and made a lof of bad decisions and got 3 F's and a C- as grades, I really just partied and didn't go to class that much after the first month so don't even know how i got a c- in that class. After this i moved back home worked and went to community college for a year, then transferred to a smaller state school which i graduated and did well. of the classes that i got the F's and C- i retook them all and got at least a B+ or better.

I know i can address this in my optional essays and how i learned some life lessons from that semester and grew a lot as person, but how much affect is that semester going to have on my admissions chances.

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear Vanilla Gorilla,

Since your "questionable semester" occurred early in your academic career, they will not be as significant as it would be had it been at the end. Also, since you retook the classes and did well, that will further help to mitigate the poor grades. In the grand scheme of your application, I don't think the one semester transgression on your transcript will be a dealbreaker for a school. You cannot change history, so you have to do what you can to show you are in a different place now and move forward. As I noted, there is already evidence that you learned your lesson quickly thereafter, so I don't think that semester will be detrimental.

Good luck,
Lisa