<p>My freshman and sophomore year of high school, i slacked (slacked being an understatment) and this defientely reflected in my GPA. My freshman year was a 2.6 and sophomore was a 2.9. The bad thing is, i KNOW i am capable of doing much better than this. all trhough middle school i was an A student, even in high school, every class i took an interest in i got an A in as well. I just didn't have a passion for school anymore. big mistake, i know. Next year i am taking 2 AP classes, an Honors class and i know that if i put in the effort, i'm almost positive i can get somewhere between a 3.8 or higher. I am taking SAT classes at a local community college, and i'm taking the SAT classes provided by my school this fall and again in spring. I also got the collegeboard official study guide and started studying the beginning of this summer. i am doing everything i can to get a really good score on my SATs to make up for my horrible GPA. My question is, what kind of colleges should i look into? Will my Junior year GPA and high SAT score make up for my freshman and sophomore year GPA or not? (btw i live in PA and want to go to a college here aswell).</p>
<p>I'm not sure what type of college you want (Big/Small, city/rural, etc) but if you can get your GPA to around 3.2 or so by the time of applying with 2100+ SAT's i would suggest (in PA): Ursinus (small LAC) and PSU-Main Campus (Large Univ) for matches and Bucknell (Larger LAC) and Lafayette (another LAC) for reaches. Also, I would suggest if you have an interest in any kind of Art (Visual, Music, etc) to work on supplemental stuff to send in with your application.</p>
<p>An upwards trend in grades is always better than a downwards trend and what most people fail to realize is that admissions people don't just look at the GPA, but at the overall transcript --- what type of classes has the student taken, where are the weakest grades, etc. Still, don't rely too heavily on "high test scores" to overcome a bumpy transcript -- they'll help but won't boost you in in and of themselves. Strong recommendations from junior and senior year teachers, and a SOLID junior and first semester transcript will go farther than high test scores alone.</p>
<p>In addition to the schools MTL07 suggested, assuming your grades do come up as you predict, I'd suggest you start your college list by looking at schools such as: Dickinson, Gettysburg, Allegheny, Moravian, York, U of Scranton, Franklin & Marshall, Temple, and similar schools in surrounding states. You can then add on reachier schools after you know just how much your grades come up next year. Good luck with school next year!</p>