Do I have ANY chance of getting into a "decent" college?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I want to go in-state-- I live in Virginia, and there are a lot of very good in-state colleges here, so I suppose I'm pretty lucky. We have UVA, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, JMU, George Mason, VCU, ODU... A big list, pretty much. I really want to go to a good college and not be stuck going to community college, or a college where 99% of people get accepted as long as they don't have a criminal record. My transcript, though... Not too great.</p>

<p>Let's just dig right into it:</p>

<p>Bad;</p>

<p>-I currently have a 2.0 GPA. Yup, 2.0. I'm a junior currently, and I'm probably going to wait until senior year so I can have 2 years to bring it up. I'm hoping to bring it up to at least a 2.5, which is a hard but reasonable goal.</p>

<p>-No extracurriculars whatsoever. I am joining history club this year that's across the district; pretty much it's like a jeopardy competition between schools and I'm going to be on my school's team. But really, I don't do any sports and I'm not too involved with my school.</p>

<p>-I don't think this is a big factor at all, but my attendance record is pretty crappy. I've had about 15 absences per year since like... middle school.</p>

<p>So pretty much, I have a horrible GPA and I'm not a very involved student.</p>

<p>now for the good I suppose;</p>

<p>-I have a very rigorous record. It was pretty much just above average freshman and sophomore years, but this year I'm taking 7 classes at school and 1 class online; 5 of them AP classes. If everything goes well by the end of senior year I'll have 10-12+ AP credits</p>

<p>-My teachers all love me and I can easily get a ton of good recommendations. I'm also in the gifted program (which doesn't matter, really :( )</p>

<p>-I tend to get really high scores on tests; I was pretty close to recieving the nmsqt last year, and hoping I may even get it this year. Either way, I'm anticipating pretty good SAT/ACT scores.</p>

<p>Yeah, sorry for the wall of text. This is a pretty vague question anyway, but I guess I'm just looking for some support so I don't start giving up already, haha. Thanks in advance for anyone who posts.</p>

2

<p>If you start to shape up, you may have a shot at some of the schools on the list- particularly JMU and George Mason. Colleges do tend to look for upward trends in grades, although being on honest, they will not really like seeing a 2.0. But community college isn’t really such a bad option. You could spend two more years close to home, and you could gain admittance to some of the better state schools in Virgnia if you work hard there. Some people even go from community college to the Ivy League!</p>

3

<p>It appears that you need to be more realistic with yourself. You’ve taken a diificult course load but lack the self discpline to succeed in these demanding courses. I wouldn’t count on the “love” of teachers in letters of rec., if you’ve significantly underachieved in their classes. Go to a Community College, grow up some, & then pursue one of the 4 year colleges you’ve mentioned.</p>