Will bad freshman year keep me out?

<p>My 9th grade year was a joke. I got C's and D's on standard(no honors or upper lvl) classes. My GPA was a 2.8, is there a chance I can still get into Harvard College? Lets just say I straightened up during 10th and 11th grade with a 3.8+.
Hooks: URM(black) 1st gen to college 30k fam income single parent home
Did I dig a hole too deep or is there still a chance? My HS isn't competitive at all and top 10% of class isn't out of the question.</p>

<p>There’s a chance - if your school ranks students you might want to ask your GC if he/she can write something like “Megafund’s rank would be x if you discount the freshman year grades.” Stanford by the way, says they don’t look at freshman year grades at all.</p>

<p>most colleges try to look at your transcript as a whole; if there was a good reason as to why you got bad grades for freshman year, then i’ll bet colleges will be more accepting for your GPA. </p>

<p>but there’s always a chance.</p>