<p>I am just curious has anyone ever known anyone who has had mediocre college grades and gotten accepted to an elite institution(maybe cornell or emory) with a good high school transcript, ECs, and essays?</p>
<p>No. I've only heard of the reverse. They want to see that you are doing good now. A downward trend does not give an admissions officer a great deal of confidence in your abilities. Are there any reasons why your grades dropped in college?</p>
<p>Actually, it depends what you mean by "mediocre" and it depends on the college. I know of several kids who transferred this year from an elite LAC with grades in the 3.0 to 3.4 range to Ivies and different elite LACs.</p>
<p>by mediocre i mean around a 3.0 from a respectable state school(such as penn state or maryland-college park)</p>
<p>grades dropped because i was unhappy with where i was and found it difficult to overcome the unhappiness and focus on schoolwork</p>
<p>You can try putting that on your essay but I don't think it would suffice; give them a more compelling reason why they should admit YOU. To tell them that you did poorly in college because you only wanted to go to a prestigious school but wasn't at one isn't a compelling reason at all.</p>
<p>Is it your first year? A lot of kids have bad first and second semesters because of the culture shock. If it is, you can do another year, do well, and then transfer as a junior.</p>