Hello!

I'm wondering about how an upward trend looks for recruiters, when compared to an average (or below average cum. GPA).

UGrad: Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) with Distinction*
School: Top 5 Canadian University

So, the reason for the asterisk is after my 1st year I transferred to a different school after finishing with a 2.45 GPA (bad home life situation at first school, etc, etc). The school I transferred to could be considered roughly the same in overall quality. Going into 2nd year at the new school I began to take my academics much more seriously and went to a 3.1 by 2nd year, to nearly two back-to-back years of a 4.0 GPA in 3rd and 4th year.

Finished at the new school ranked 2nd in my program (fortunately for me they didn't count my first year into this calculation), graduated with distinction, received a couple academic + community service awards, and a big award for highest graduating year GPA.

So, I have a very upward trending GPA (split over 2 schools), that ends up averaging out to about a 3.3ish. What will *top* schools think when assessing the trend (and I guess the split)? The awards for finishing strong are nice and the last couple years of near perfect GPA I’m sure help my case, I'm just wondering if I should consider myself as part of the "need to be more than exceptional" in other categories to make up for the first year.

Any thoughts the upward trend and what it would mean for an application?

Thanks,

student66