<p>calcruzer - wow! that's awesome news to me. i have and will start big on the EC and internships..i have a lot planned and i pray to god that i go through with it</p>
<p>I think that you CAN get into a great college that will give you a great education if you turn it around, but it's all academic (pun intended) until you actually do. It's great that you're motivated though and that should go a long way toward getting it done. Louis XIV was the French monarch 300 years ago.</p>
<p>this makes me sad :(</p>
<p>First of all: APs are not needed to get into top schools if your school doesn't offer them ( I would know, I took 1AP course and zero AP exams and got in HYS, etc). You wont get penalized if you're taking the toughest courses at your school and do well in them, and you're not doing either. Also, I don't think you're as smart as you think you are. 2.0 is pretty ridiculous (especially in non honors classes). </p>
<p>Sooo... are you screwed? I think so. Just give up on life and start practicing things that WILL be important to you: Like your mopping skills.</p>
<p>Sorry to say it, but with a very easy course load (only one honors class, and what is math B? i thought that was a middle school class!) and an awful GPA, I think you have almost no chance at any of the Ivies. Even if you were taking some of the hardest courses and straight APs in your sophomore year, which you definitely are not, a 2.0 is not acceptable... I'm not trying to be harsh, that's just the reality of it, in my opinion. Even a complete turn around is probably not enough when many consistent 4.0s/2400s/36s are getting rejected WITH amazing extracurriculars, essays, volunteering, etc.</p>
<p>You can still get into a good school, an "intellectual" school, one you will be happy at. you don't need to go to an ivy to enjoy college. and the ivies are hard to study, so perhaps you would struggle there and ultimately end up stressed out if you did go to one.</p>
<p>I dont think you are even academically eligible to play NCAA sports with a 2.0</p>
<p>Listen, some of the posts here are mean spirited ("mopping skills" come on)</p>
<p>Many people find their stride later in life than you and do great. Also, many people go through high school with near perfect "stats" and EC's still don't get into ivies. There are many great schools where you can get a great education. </p>
<p>For example, Canadian universities (McGill and Toronto) only care about test scores and grades from 11th and 12th grade. A great education can be gotten there and you are certainly in the running IF you start improving. You'd be with some of your intellectual peers because these schools educate many of Canada's best and brightest. You can go there undergrad and still go to an "Ivy" for grad school, where it really matters.</p>
<p>There are many public schools that admit a lot of people whether or not they can do the work, yet can offer a very high quality academic experience for those that actually seek it out. These are flagship schools like Arizona, Arizona St, Indiana, Purdue, Colorado, Oregon where a GPA over 2.5 with a serious upward trend and good scores will likely get you in. These are often big party schools, so you'd have to buck the prevailing trend once your there to get that great education, but it's there for the taking. </p>
<p>When I was in grad school at MIT I knew of other grad students who did their undergrad at Arizona, New Mexico, Delaware, University of British Columbia, Toronto, McGill, Nebraska, Purdue, Clemson, SUNY Albany, Rutgers, etc. Your road is not closed. </p>
<p>There are liberal arts colleges mentioned in "Colleges that Change Lives" by Lauren Pope that supposedly offer great educations to late bloomers. </p>
<p>So cheer up, you are not screwed. Good luck.</p>
<p>Classic, I am 100% with you for everything you said. But the OP specifically asked if he could get into any IVY with a 2.0.</p>
<p>amb3r - sorry but you are an idiot (in the realm of common sense, i'm sure you got a 4.0 gpa and perfect scores). i never asked if i could get into an ivy league with a 2.0, and after reading classical rocker's post i hope you could have re-read my original post and realized that, cause you obviously read the title and jumped to the quick reply button. even by the title you should get the jist of it, "are the doors are closed" was a metaphor for "are all my opportunities for xxxx completely gone?". </p>
<p>the question was if i changed myself around and studied hard, took AP courses & self took the ones i couldn't thru school, did good on the ACT/SAT would i still be able to get in. basically i wanted to know if the colleges would hold my early, juvenile mistakes against me. </p>
<p>criticism is fine, and this thread was certainly aimed at yielding honest answers -- but please read the topic before you post...it helps.</p>
<p>oh..and math b is the equiv of alg2 afaik, i personally have never heard of that as a middle school course but hey maybe</p>
<p>Amber, suppose Princeton throws out the freshman grades, and he has 1 term of 2.0 first term sophomore year and then runs 4 terms with A+'s across the boards through first term senior year. That gives him about a 3.84 with an upward trend. If he does something special on top of this like a Siemens or Intel Finalist, aces his boards, then he theoretically could get into Princeton. Don't forget he IS a genius.</p>
<p>Maybe he means that Math B should be the type of course taken in middle school by someone aspiring to the Ivies? I do know that in my school Trigonometry is a sophomore course, so you seem to be on a regular track for math.
What state do you live in? If you believe you can TRULY turn yourself around, earn nothing but As and above from now on, get perfect on the SATs and ACTs, win several prestigious national awards, and get recruited for football--then an Ivy MIGHT be a possibility. Otherwise, I'd set the state flagship as your 'reach' college. I don't know--personally, in our state students have trouble getting into our flagship with sub 3.6...but college is always a possibility if you truly want it. There is always a college that will admit any student--they're called community colleges, and though that seems to almost be a swearword on these boards, you CAN get an education at one if you push yourself.
ClassicRockerDad...I thought you were on the OP's side? <em>confused</em></p>
<p>i live in NYC. </p>
<p>earlier today i spoke a guy i know who goes to columbia, and he told me he had a similar situation for his freshman year. he wrote an essay about his turnaround and ironically he thinks that's what set him apart from the others in a unique way.</p>
<p>Max, I dont think you have a right to call anyone in here an idiot...</p>
<p>sorry i forgot that GPA is the official marker for intelligence</p>
<p>I am on the original poster's side. I was serious.</p>
<p>There are two kinds of people who go to ivies, smart people who work really hard to get their grades, and people who just get it, or "just play" as Good Will Hunting said in the movie of the same name. When I was at MIT, most people were in the former category, but there were certainly some with true genius, and one could only marvel at their capacity to absorb. </p>
<p>If he is a true genius, if the neurons in his brain fire faster than 99% of the population, then it wouldn't surprise me if he could run the table with perfect grades and test scores and also use his brain to contribute to significant research in time to make a serious application to an ivy. It would however require him to get serious. Even if he does all that, and still doesn't get in to a prestige school, because of his capacity, he can still go somewhere like Canada or Big Public, get a great education and catch up in graduate school. </p>
<p>I just hope he uses his genius for good instead of evil!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't forget he IS a genius.
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</p>
<p>LOL! Oh, that's right, I forgot!!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
</p>
<p>If he is a true genius, if the neurons in his brain fire faster than 99% of the population
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</p>
<p>1% is a lot of geniuses to be running around in this world.</p>
<p>LOL...yeah rocker thanks for comparing me to einstein, while i appreciate your compliments i'm afraid i may not be on that level :p. i don't parade around telling people my IQ score or anything like that, that's what the psychologist who adminstered the test told me and i always like to to leave it at that. i only supplied that information to possibly "verify" that there's a good chance i'll do good on the SATs. again, i really do appreciate all of your support and i enjoyed your GWH reference, it's a fantastic movie :).</p>
<p>i appreciate the smug remarks as well, it's a shame that amb3r didn't read or didn't reply (likely the former) to my other post though. ah well, can't say i'm very surprised :p.</p>
<p>"i only supplied that information to possibly "verify" that there's a good chance i'll do good on the SATs."</p>
<p>*well</p>
<p>thanks for the writing fix, but next time i'll be sure to proof-read my posts so i can avoid punk mother****ers like yourself who have nothing better to do but annoy and flame people who are looking for serious answers.</p>