<p>i personally don't think you're getting into any of the ivies.</p>
<p>Okay, here is my reply to your post.</p>
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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.
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<p>Yes, I think they will, and I honestly do not think you have a sizeable chance at the Ivies (and I am saying this with no malicious intent, and want you to have a good education.) Why is an Ivy going to take you over a student who has displayed maturity all through high school? Your turnaround is admirable, but doesn't give you a leg up on other applicants unless you OUTPERFORM them in your next two years. And knowing the kind of stiff competition you have and the rigor of the courses you are currently taking, I can't see how you are going to outperform kids who took Algebra 2 W/ Analysis in 7th grade, who win major national and regional awards in competitions, and who have straight 4.0s backgrounds.</p>
<p>And I agree with Keshira that if you "win several national awards.. get recruited for football.." your chances shoot up dramatically. But why would he, with a 2.0 gpa so far, win awards over kids who have outperformed in the past? I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm just saying that if anyone wins those awards, it is probably gonna be the kids who are excelling in academics at their schools, working hard, having a long history of good study habits, etc. Dramatic turnarounds make for good stories, but in real life, it's rather unrealistic to see a 2.0 student winning the Siemens 1st place prize (or even gaining finalist status), and that is the sort of award, he would need to offset such a big stumble in his earlier HS career. I mean, he's only taken 1 honors course, for goodness' sake, not to mention any AP, IB, or advanced-level classes.</p>
<p>Nobody is going to tell you it's IMPOSSIBLE to get into an ivy with your record. But that's only because NOTHING is absolutely impossible, so to say so is rather redundant and gives you no valuable information for your own situation. To make a statement like "you can do it if you work really really hard" is rather deceiving, because while you have a chance, you are starting out far behind the pack, both in the low level of classes you are taking, and in how well you have performed in them.</p>
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sorry i forgot that GPA is the official marker for intelligence
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No, GPA is not the official marker of intelligence, and, for the record, neither is an IQ test. An IQ test are too broad and cannot measure your mastery of a specific academic subject area. That's why we have grades. Grades are the only proven way to show whether or not a student has mastered a certain subject. That's why colleges look at them.</p>
<p>I agree with amb3r, your low GPA will reflect negatively on your character since, in addition to displaying your mastery of academic subject areas, GPAs convey your work ethic to a certain degree. </p>
<p>Also, ivy league schools are looking for people that are both intelligent and book smart. The whole point of going to college is to become more knowledgeable about academics not to become "smarter." (By smarter I mean increase one's IQ score.)</p>
<p>My advice to you is to not rely on your high IQ or bank on getting good test scores. First, of all it will be very difficult for you to get a perfect score on the ACT since it tests you on things you should have been taught not how intelligent you are. The SAT is an aptitude test so that may be to your advantage. However, even if you did manage to get a perfect score, many kids with 4.0s, good ECs, and near perfect test scores are rejected from ivy league schools.</p>
<p>Right now all you can do is damage control. I would advise you to take harder classes and make As in them. You did not really specify what your problem was... is the reason you have a 2.0 due to depression, not doing your homework, or perhaps a learning disability. Whatever it is get it taken care of.</p>
<p>P.S. You may just try to get into a decent school for college and startover new then apply to an ivy league school for graduate school.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
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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.
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If he does something special on top of this like a Siemens or Intel Finalist
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<p>ClassicRockerDad, that is one of the most unlikely scenarios I have ever heard of. Going from straight C's to straight A+'s? WINNING Siemens against kids who have NEVER gotten anything but A's since middle school? How is this going to happen, by sheer force of will? Are you just saying he can do this because he's a so-called "genius"? Even scoring in the top 1% of that IQ test puts him among tens of thousands of students in the nation. Believe me, I know a very small handful of geniuses, and they were taking Honors Algebra 2 w/ Analysis in SIXTH grade, and getting A's! I have no doubt this kid is smarter than his 2.0 average makes it seem, but I am not going to call him a genius. Again, NOTHING is impossible, but this scenario is extremely, extremely unlikely. However, it all depends on how much the OP applies himself in the next few semesters. If he can pull that GPA up significantly, that upward trend will give him a shot at some top 30 schools for sure.</p>