Could I get into a real college with bad grades?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a junior with an abysmal GPA. In my freshman year I earned 2 spectacular F's and a D for my 3 main courses (I dropped out of my science course). In my Sophomore year I earned 2 F's and 2 D's. This year though I've gotten straight A's in all of my subjects, electives included. All of my freshman and sophomore classes were standard level courses, however this year I took 2 honors courses, 1 AP course and one SUPA (college level) course. I got around 2000 on my PSATS and could probably do that well again when I take the real test. Quite frankly, I'm a smart kid who didn't work for 2 years because I was going through a TON of personal problems and didn't have the time or mental stability to focus on schoolwork. Is it even worth applying to a real college at this point, or will I have to resort to attending a community college and waste another 1-2 years of my life? Please offer any information you can, I'm extremely concerned about this!</p>

<p>Additional note: I doubt this would have any affect on my chances, but would mentioning that my IQ is 131 help at all?</p>

2

<p>First off, community colleges are real colleges. Many fine students spend their first two years there for any number of reasons - lack of money being one of them. If you end up at a CC it does not mean there is anything wrong with you.</p>

<p>There are something like 4,000 colleges and universities in this country. Some will be very happy to accept a student who has shown great improvement following a personal/family crisis that had negative effects on earlier grades. However, it is not likely that any of those places is going to throw a ginormous merit-based scholarship at that student.</p>

<p>Talk with your parents and find out what they can pay, and talk with your guidance counselor about the best way to present the information about the crisis that is reflected in your mixed academic record. Then go from there.</p>

3

<p>Colleges and universities don’t give a rip about your IQ. They do care about solid evidence that you can perform well in hard classes.</p>

4

<p>Colleges also care how you perform in not so hard classes. Getting an F because you’re distracted or disinterested is not good.</p>

5

<p>What about your progress toward HS graduation? Have you made up those failed classes in summer school?</p>

6

<p>If you can graduate high school and score a 2k on SAT, you’ll get into decent enough schools.</p>

7

<p>Yes, I made up those failed classes in summer school.</p>

8

<p>You are obviously intelligent. It’s unfortunate you didn’t perform as well as you could have performed in high school. You can try community college and transfer after a year or two. Another option is to attend your state flagship. It’s not very competitive, unless it is UMichigan, UVA, UCBerkeley, or UNC.</p>

9

<p>Just to clear something up, the two years spent at community college are spent taking the classes you would be taking during your first two years at a university. Going to community college doesn’t change the amount of time it will take to get your degree, so those two years aren’t really wasted.</p>

10

<p>Uh, not sure I agree with Rain202. I also know of several other states that have somewhat competitive state flagships (SUNY-Binghamton, Penn State, University of Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota-Twin Cities, UF, UT-Austin, several other UC campuses including UCLA, UIUC, Ohio State, UGA, Georgia Tech). Not all of them are super competitive, but students who are not in the top 25% of their class may experience some difficulty getting admitted.</p>

<p>However, most states have a variety of public universities that aren’t just flagships - for example, my state’s flagships are Georgia Tech, UGA and Georgia State, but we also have other public regional universities that are good places to go to school (Georgia College & State University, Valdosta State U, Augusta State U, North Georgia, Georgia Southern, etc.) OP, your state should have some of those too - so you may be able to start at one of these four-year universities and then perhaps transfer to the flagship campus after a year or two, if you want.</p>

<p>You may also find some universities and colleges who are willing to take your sharp upward trend into account - although I agree that you should be willing to find some that you can afford without significant merit aid.</p>

11

<p>If you can show two years of straight A work, and have excellent SATs, there are many fine colleges that will accept you.</p>

12

<p>Didn’t the summer school classes replace the F’s in your GPA? If you have any more D’s on your transcript you should consider taking them over again in the summer. It will bring up your GPA and show you made an effort.</p>

13

<p>Until you post an SAT/ACT score it’s impossible to know your chances. But to my knowledge whatever grade you get in summer school replaces the original grade. So your GPA might be a lot higher than you think.</p>

14

<p>Some schools may not replace the grade but just add the second try in the GPA. It depends on the school.</p>