What about a complete GPA turnaround?

Applying to College
1

I was recently diagnosed with ADD (in addition to a host of other medical problems), so I’ve been put on medication for it and I’m in counseling to change my study habits. It’s hard, but I’m trying to do better. I’ve always had it, but because I’m one of those “gifted” kids (I even went to a gifted school in junior high), people have always thought that I’m just lazy. I’m in all honors and AP classes, but my GPA’s pretty bad:

Freshman Year - 3.9 weighted, 3.2 unweighted
1st Semester Sophomore Year - 3.2 weighted, 2.6 unweighted
2nd Semester (this semester) - probably 3.5 weighted, 2.9 unweighted

These are the grades I’ve gotten never opening a textbook or studying anything…

If I do really well next year (junior year) and first semester of senior year – say, 5.0 (I know I’m capable of it if I actually open a book) – how will colleges see me? Will they be able to disregard my freshman and sophomore grades, or will they look at my overall GPA and laugh?

Also, I test really well…I’m expecting 2250+ on the SAT and 34+ on the ACT (the ACT’s easier for me for some weird reason), as well as mostly 5’s on my AP’s (Euro, U.S., BC Calc, English Language, German Language, Chem, Bio, World, Stats and I might self-study English Lit and Phys). I have pretty good extra curriculars – I’ve done a lot of theatre and I’m on math team. Also, I won a national trip to Germany, so I’m going on a study trip there this summer. I plan to do the Intel science competition as well.

Basically…am I screwed? I wanna apply to U of Chicago, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, USC, NYU, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, Oberlin, Pomona, Amherst, Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, Stanford and probably a few other schools of the same caliber.

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<p>No, I don’t think you’re screwed. Your GPA isn’t really <em>that</em> bad, except maybe first sem sophomore year.</p>

<p>You can always make an addendum to your app and say something like you were “cured” (lol…whatever) during late sophomore year.</p>

<p>I’m actually in a position similar to yours. I was tested gifted through elementary and high school, and I don’t work nearly as hard as I should. I only do homework if it’s going to be turned in, and I write papers and occasionally study (but never more than just a few minutes of review.) My school doesn’t do “weighted”, instead we just get a third of a letter grade boost for honors/AP. My scores are a little below your weighted scores.</p>

<p>I too am expecting the SAT’s to “save” me. I can pretty much count on 750+ for reading and writing because I was in the 96th percentile for those as a sophomore.</p>