@listenmissy Again, as I have mentioned before, it was wrong of me to exaggerate that I was “ruined” and I apologize for that. I just meant to emphasize that I was just a bit worried about my freshman stats. I know nothing will ever guarantee a spot in a selective school which is why I never asked for anything that may. I clearly simply seeked feedback from people, hence why I never directly asked what would definitely get me into Brown or any other top school. And yes, I knew beforehand a couple of responses I receive may be inaccurate, but I still wanted to know the thoughts of some people who has been through the admissions process or has been with someone through it… Besides, the replies I’ve received so far were pretty helpful, eye opening, and/or based off of the experiences of people so I don’t really regret making this thread. This thread wasn’t really supposed to be a chance me since that would be impossible (which I said before), so sorry if I mislead you. My focus is mainly advice from people since I still have time to improve overall.
Grades aren’t everything! If you use the one bad grade as motivation to do better later, you’ll be just fine. But keep in mind that your college dreams may change…after tours, after talking with students, after taking SATs…so be prepared! I think it’s great to think ahead! I toured a lot of colleges during freshman year and do not regret it 
I learned that college tours are really helpful, and your soph and junior years are going to be crazy busy, including the summers if you want them to be, so I think it’s good to be proactive! But don’t stress out! There’s still a lot of time to make changes and alter bad habits !
@LushLillies Thanks! I do certainly hope colleges look at freshman year the least though. I heard that some do, but hopefully it applies to most colleges out there.
@phantomtroupe every college we visited said they primarily look at 10th, 11th, and the first half of 12th. A few AOs commented that they also looked for “upward trends” — so it sounds like you are on the right track with your thinking.
I’m trying to delete this thread, and I can’t figure out how.
@phantomtroupe You can’t. Per Terms of Service:
https://auth.collegeconfidential.com/module.php/hobsonspolicies/policy.php?policy=tos
How do you even know about Brown? You are only a freshman… That’s the point of many responses. You should not be thinking about any colleges in particular right now. You should be thinking about your courses, your friends, and your fun activities. Not Brown or any college.
I also think it’s kind of silly to have a definitive dream school while you’re in ninth grade. My list, and the list of everyone else I know, changed almost completely just between junior and senior year.
@hufflepuffle. You are never too young to dream. Your dream school may change, but there’s nothing silly about having a ‘definitive’ dream school at any age. @suzyQ7. I also disagree that there is anything wrong with thinking about college as a freshman. You are right that it should not consume anyone, but there’s nothing wrong with people thinking about college as freshmen and working hard with that thought in mind and, per my prior point, if thinking about college in general leads someone to think about a particular college, I don’t see anything wrong with that. That’s not to say that people shouldn’t fixate on one college unrealistically in terms of either having that as the ‘only’ school for them or in terms of being unwilling to think/learn about other schools, but the blanket advice to not think about a particular school, or have a ‘dream’ school, in my opinion, is not fair or good. For example, if I wanted to be an engineer, my dream school might be MIT, if I wanted to be a lawyer, my dream school might be Harvard Law, and so on. Not that those would be everyone’s dream schools, but what’s wrong with those dreams, even for a Freshman?