Cumulative GPA given to program reflects bad grades?

[kingslayer]

Hi everyone,

When I first began school, I was a bad student. I took courses, stopped going to them, and ultimately got an F in three courses. However, I retook the courses and got A's/B's.

As far as my college is concerned, my GPA is 3.5. However, I just calculated my cumulative GPA with the F's and I have a 3.26. I called one of the colleges I applied to and they told me that they will include the F's I received almost 6 years ago. Is every college like this?

I also withdrew from a bunch of courses and therefore received W's. Will those be counted negatively as well? For the past 4 years I have not done that, and my grades have been A's/B's, so I don't want mistakes I made as a teen to come back and haunt me.