Chances at top schools (emory, vandy, tulane) with a low GPA?

I’m very confused. Are you a current junior, or senior? If you are a senior, there is little you can do to improve anything. Decisions are coming out now.

If you are a junior, then there is still time. Unfortunately being ORM makes things a bit more difficult. Most of the top colleges won’t overlook your poor GPA. Sometimes they will if there are extenuating circumstances (death of parent, medical illness, etc). But the reasons you provide above won’t be convincing IMHO.

Have you considered getting a neuropsych evaluation? These are expensive, but can help pinpoint your problem areas and devise behavioral interventions to help improve. This might be the best strategy for the long-term. As others point out, going to a top college with the same study habits might spell doom for you.

The second option is to go to a lower ranked college (or even 2 year community college) with the intention of transferring. After 1-2 years of solid grades, you would make for a compelling transfer case. There are some top colleges that accept lots transfer students (USC, Cornell, Vandy to name a few).