<p>Hi everybody! It's my first time posting. I am a freshman in high school. I messed around for the first month of school, so my GPA on my first report card is going to be BAD. Maybe 3.4, 3.3 or maybe even 3.2 :(. I have the ability to get a 4.0 though, and have before. If I maintain a 3.8-4.0 for the rest of high school, will this one bad GPA affect me? Also, I want to attend Stanford, MIT, Princeton, or Harvard. What do I need to do to get into these schools? Is knowing how to program code( C++) something that would help on an application?<br>
Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Kiddo, most colleges don’t give half a damn about your freshman year as a whole, much less one marking period. Just work hard from now on, and you’ll be fine. You’ll need a strong GPA in rigorous courses with good test scores and interesting extracurriculars to attend these schools. And if you incorporate it into an interesting EC, then definitely. But you’re a freshman, and you’ve got a lot of time ahead of you. Don’t be stressing so much.</p>