<p>I had a 2.95 GPA in my freshman year of high school. If I get a 4.0 GPA throughout the rest of high school, could I get into an elite school, such as the Ivy League universities or the U.S. Service Academies, assuming I do everything else correctly?</p>
<p>If you were to get a 4.0 unweighted GPA the next three years of high school, your unweighted GPA would be a 3.7375. You would not be able to get any higher than that. 
That’s a very good unweighted GPA, but for the Ivies, I feel that the likelihood of you being accepted would be extremely slim… But you could most definitely get into a GREAT public university with that great GPA! And if you have an amazing weighted GPA, that would help, too! Unfortunately, Ivies don’t care about weighted. :(</p>
<p>Be aware that some schools don’t count the 9th grade</p>
<p>Actually, unless a college specifically states (on their website, brochures, etc…) that they do not count your freshman year, they do. But, it is probably a given that they take into consideration the fact that freshman year is a transition kind of year, from middle school to high school. 
(I’m not just pulling this stuff out of my butt. Haha. I went on five college tours and asked this question to each tour guide, and got this answer from them all.)</p>
<p>What if, on top of my high school academics, take community college courses during my junior and senior years in an early credits program? Would that help my chances?</p>
<p>Actually, if you did that, you could potentially raise your unweighted GPA, since those college classes will act as high school classes as well! (It’s a totally confusing system, I know. lol.) I’ve been taking community college courses since my freshman year of high school (I’m now a senior), and it has totally saved my GPA. For some reason, I do much better in college classes than high school classes… o.0 Go figure. It’s called Dual Enrollment - you’ve probably heard of it. That can definitely help improve your high school GPA! (Or, you could do Early Admissions as a senior, which is what I’m doing my senior year. Basically, as long as you’ve gotten all of your high school requirements fulfilled, you can go to the community college full-time for your senior year of high school!)</p>