Average grades Freshman year...

Answered

@Sodetou, in general, admissions officers are relatively forgiving of lowish freshman year grades provided that the student does extremely well in subsequent years. AOs are especially understanding of this situation when a student has a legitimate excuse for low grades at the start of high school. (Typically, students try to explain what held them back in the "Additional Information" section of the CommonApp.)

That said, a single C is sometimes enough to knock students out of the running for schools like Harvard, regardless of the reasoning behind it. There are so many students applying to Harvard with perfect GPAs, that a few grades might ruin your chances even if you do show a great upward trajectory throughout high school. If you have perfect or near perfect standardized test scores, a perfect GPA with an extremely rigorous courseload, and a fantastic extracurricular "spike," you might still have a chance, but it's hard to say exactly.

It is difficult to chance you based on your GPA alone, of course. For a real estimate, I'd recommend filling out your profile above and seeing what our chancing engine says about your chance of acceptance at Harvard.