Chances of getting into ANY decent four year school? :/

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm in my senior year of high school now and starting to look for colleges to apply to. I made a lot of bad decisions (academically, at least) early on, and now I'm feeling the pain for my actions. You'll see the irony of my situation below...</p>

<p>My cumulative high school GPA: 2.59
(up until this quarter)</p>

<p>My 1st quarter GPA this year: 4.25 (weighted w/ AP courses)</p>

<p>SAT: 1800 (M:720|CR:560|W:520) *Retook it today; I think score will be closer to 1950.
SAT II: N/A
ACT: N/A</p>

<p>Class rank: 245 / 394</p>

<p>Current schedule:
1. AP American Government & Politics
2. AP Psychology
3. Spanish II
4. AP World History
5. Physics
6. Trigonometry
7. Astronomy/Marine Science
8. English 12 (British Lit)</p>

<p>Extra curricular:
- Academic Team
- Future Business Leaders of America - Vice President
- Engineering Team/Club - Captain
- Varsity Volleyball
- Various church projects around the community</p>

<p>Work experience:
- Freelance computer programmer since 2004 (languages: C, C++, J#, VB, .NET, etc.)
- Freelance website developer + designer (languages: HTML, PHP, Javascript, Perl, etc.)
- Worked at Circuit City for 6 months
- Worked at Rite Aid for 4 months</p>

<hr>

<p>Anyway, my first three years in high school I treated as a joke. In those first years, I received GPAs as low as 0.4 and no higher than 3.125.</p>

<p>This year, my senior year, I really started to get a grip on my life and do well in school. I have seven A's and one B (in Spanish II) on my report card for first quarter. My activity level shot up nearly 100x and now I'm very active around school.</p>

<p>I guess my question is...</p>

<p>Is it too late for me? Will any decent colleges even take a second glance at my application before denying it?</p>

<p>Obviously I understand that I won't be getting into an amazing school (even though MIT has been my dream school since the 3rd grade), but what are my chances of getting into a "less renowned" 4 year school? And just for future reference, what are the chances of me getting into my dream school?</p>

<p>Will any colleges look at the huge improvement in my senior year compared to earlier years and say, "well maybe this student has potential after all..."?</p>

<p>Let me know what you think!</p>

<p>Hope to hear from you soon,
Drew</p>

2

<p>Considering your 4.25 this year, I suggest applying to any decent 4 year college and writing them a letter indicating that you truly want to go there and explain that you disregarded school until recently. Admission counselors are human beings, not robots, and a note would help them understand why your GPA is so low. Your SATs tell me that you are capable of doing well.</p>

3

<p>Assuming your score really is around 2000 with this latest SAT retake, and your counselor/teacher letters do a good job of explaining the GPA situation, I’d say you’ve got a good shot at a state university.</p>

<p>I’m sorry to say that MIT is out of the question. Valedictorians get rejected from that place, 'nuff said.</p>