<p>I am a terrible student. For the first two and a half years of high school I embraced that, getting almost all C's in not so great classes, I saw my friends all excel in all honors classes.</p>
<p>Then one day last year I looked around and thought "I really don't want these people to be my classmates". It was like a switch turned on in my head. Since that point last year I begged my guidance counselor to move me into the top classes and have held all A's and really enjoyed myself as I was with my friends in classes for the first time.</p>
<p>Now push comes to shove with college applications though and I feel absolutely terrible. My GPA is exactly 3 and I'm under the 50% mark for my class. I'm hoping to major in mathematics and just this year I've taken calc II, am currently taking calc III, and hope to finish off the year with differential equations. I understand that with my preferred major it's going to be a long road and there's plenty of time to recover from my high school mistakes, but I just feel terrible all the time and I've talked with my guidance counselor about this and it seemed like she didn't really understand a kid like me. I just want to know if there's any better option for me than going to my state school, doing well, maybe transferring, and then going to a good place for grad school.</p>
<p>I know how you feel. My GPA isn’t too great as well and I constantly feel that everyone else is a better candidate than me for college admissions. I think it has to do with society today; the admissions process is long and arduous and students feel pressured into believing that they won’t get to any good schools, so they list all their stats for others to compare and see. Just know that what colleges want most is your MONEY, and there will always be a school out there that wants you.</p>
<p>I don’t see the problem with ‘going to a state school, doing well, maybe transferring, and then going to a good place for grad school.’</p>
<p>Most states have at least one school that has a challenging math program. What are your test scores? If they are good, you’ll probably get into your best state school.</p>
<p>All you can do is look forward. You have lots of opportunities, probably several college choices. You have to decide to make it work. Embrace your college, make it your first choice, take advantage of all it has to offer.</p>
<p>Yeah I know, it’s just hard to come to terms with for me I guess, even though it sounds pretty stuck up.</p>
<p>@twoin</p>
<p>I have a >2000 SAT score, an 800 math II, and two other mediocre subject tests. Also my state only has one state school so I’m already in the best one for my state, yay!</p>
<p>On the bright side (at the risk of sounding stuck up again), my original motivation came from wanting to be put in a more challenging environment so maybe I’ll be super motivated next fall.</p>