Bad Freshman year of highschool , Still chance for hope ?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey !
Feel free to skip this part and go down to the question, although I do explain myself here.
So as the tittle suggest I did really bad in my freshman year of high school. My freshman year gpa was a 1.5, but before I ask my question let me give some background. </p>

<p>When I was in middle school I was a straight A student + gifted student , not really because I was a hard worker or studied a lot, but because I was smart enough to where I didn't need to try. Anyways, my parents decided that I should go to a math and science school. The one they signed me up to, is the #1 best high school in my state and #3 in the country. Unfortunately, I was not able to realize how lucky I was to be there in my freshman year. </p>

<p>To sum up me my freshman year, I was unmotivated , naive, and immature. I did not realize what I was doing and how this would affect me. I didn't even know what a gpa was or how people go into college. Anyways, That year I ended up failing 3 classes, 1st semester language arts, 1st semester chemistry , and 2nd semester German. My gpa ended up being a 1.5 by the end of the year. That summer I realized I messed up BIG TIME. </p>

<p>Now I am in my sophomore year and I have all A's and 1 B (this is first semester and the semester ends in 2 weeks).
I have joined 3 clubs and I am taking 1 ap with the rest being gifted classes. I am working as hard right now trying to fix my mistakes and I am still just really stressed out because I feel as if I have already ruined my chances of ever getting into a good/great college. How can I make them realize I had a BIG mess up, but I am trying my absolute best to fix it. </p>

<p>***The question :<br>
Lets say if this was my application for a college ; </p>

<p>Freshman year gpa : 1.5
sophomore year gpa : 3.6
Junior year gpa: 4
Senior year first semester ; 4 </p>

<p>2 internships
1 during junior year and 1 during senior year </p>

<p>Started my own club/organization </p>

<p>4-6 AP's taken total </p>

<p>In 3 clubs ;
Interact club
Model Un
rely for life </p>

<p>sat : 1400-1600
act - 32-36</p>

<p>200- 400 hours of community service</p>

<p>Highly ranked High school; </p>

<hr>

<p>If I was to apply for colleges with these achievements would I still be able to get into a good college ?
My dream college is MIT, and I know thats a stretch but I am 110% willing to put in the work needed to be there.
Also what else could I do in high school to help me out? And would I be better off applying for schools that don't count freshman year when recalculating gpa ? (stanford, UC schools) (btw , I know they still look at them) </p>

<p>Thank you so much to ever reads this, It means a lot to me, because I don't really have anyone in my life I can explain this too. </p>

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<p>Really all you can do is work on yourself. Then you go to what school you can and make the most of that. It is about you, not the college. You accomplishments now will prepare you to take on college. My friend flunked out of a CSU and had to go to community college first then back to that common state college, then was able to get to Caltech for grad school because of the excellent and innovative work she did at the state college, she even taught the faculty seminars on stuff she worked out in the lab, and it was not even a UC…So I suggest you do not think about your freshman year any longer, it is water under the bridge. Work on school this year and next. Take your SATs spring of Jr year, then you will be in a position to select colleges. Sure many may overlook freshman year. There will always be some uncertainty so you will always have to have a solid couple of safety schools in mind. Think about it later and enjoy life for now. It is ridiculous to live being stressed out all the time when you can’t go back in time. Instead, be pleased with yourself that you have figured this out. A lot of gifted kids, myself included, get lazy and never really learn to study. This always will bite them in the butt eventually. You got that out of the way. Contrats!</p>

<p>P.S. spending your time here obsessively handicapping your ‘chances’ is about the most unproductive thing you can do. Better to change your thinking and develop yourself. Take a look at "How to be a High School Superstar’ by college prof Cal Newport. He has a blog too. Except of the book here:
<a href=“Cal Newport, New York Times Bestselling Author of Seven Books”>http://calnewport.com/books/high-school-superstar/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If you go to the #1 best high school in your state why aren’t you talking to your counselor? One would think that at such an illustrious institution they would be a great source of advice.</p>