I got 3.0 in high school long time ago but 99.9% in SAT and got into Cornell, UVA and NYU – and got 2.9 GPA in college. Applied to Harvard but got rejected. But D average in engineering and 3.9+ average in English Lit even as a recent immigrant whose English was not fluent and even though I had gotten 800 in SAT math. When I went to my advisor to request changing my major to English Lit, he had an astounded look on his face as if to say “What the hel* you think you are doing?” but I told him I need to graduate college without flunking out and I felt I should at least improve my writing. I basically learned to write by majoring in English Lit at Cornell, and after I had C+ in my first class, I managed to get As from then on. I was too lazy to tackle engineering major but could do very well in “creative” courses where I could think about and formulate papers in my mind while I was drinking coffee or walking on the campus or skipping lectures and lying in bed. I also managed to get into a top 5 law school by arguing persuasively that had I started college as an English Lit major, I would have graduated from college with something like 3.9 GPA, and therefore lousy GPA should not be held against me. I then got 2.9 GPA from law school also because instead of studying I worked and gained practical experience. Had no desire to work at a big law firm (once they saw my GPA, big law firms said “sayonara”) so I just worked to gain practical experience and started my own law office quickly. Looking back, my biggest asset was I had no fear of failing even though my parents were poor. Actually, failing in my career was not an option even though I could and did fail in my classes.