Is it possible?

Zande33

Chieftain
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
53
Hi. I'm making a thread here because I don't know where else to make one. I read this forum everyday but I seldom post. This post is about me and college. I live in the USA. In Texas. Basically, the point of this thread is, is it possible for me to attend a university with my current problems?

A little background. I'm 16 and i'm a Sophomore at a High School, and the school year is almost over. To be brief, my grades suck. But i'll tell you why. Through grades K-6 my grades were usually pretty good. As and Bs, and the very occasional C. In 7th and 8th grades I scored average grades. In the summer of 8th grade I was introduced to the very popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. This game consumed my time and my life for the entire 9th and first half of 10 grade. When I played the game, I didn't want to get off to eat. Or hang out with friends. I basically turned into a lazy bum who received no sunlight and was very skinny. I loved the game, but I hated it too. My school grades were so bad because I never did homework and I got crap for sleep. I eventually quit(cold turkey![haha]) and never looked back, really. My life has improved, but my grades haven't.

I am still addicted to the internet. I love everything about the internet. I love how you can find almost any peice of information in a matter of seconds. It's the universal book, and link. But I'm on it too much. And it's hard for me to get off. Like right now. It's 2 A.M and I have school tommorrow. But I feel I need to type this for advice. I know this is a factor in my bad grades.

I now work out and hang out with my friends more, and my grades if anything have improved a tiny bit. The thing is, I think i'm a very intelligent person. But maybe i'm not. I always thought I was some kind of genius at age 12 or so, because I understood so many things. But i'm not. I was raised Christian but slowly turned agnostic. I just don't see how I can follow Christianity, even when my family members are so devoted. I just don't believe. Sorry.

I'm interested in everything. Astronomy, health, anthropology and archaeology, music(big on music), philosophy, life, writing, history, science, you name it. I love reading - when most kids are out partying or finding a girlfriend I can be found reading a book on History or maybe anything else. But enough about me. My grades suck, and i'm failing more and more classes.

The thing is, I NEED to go to college. I vision a university and me there, studying hard and becoming a good student and having fun. It's the place for me. Is it too late? Junior and Senior years I plan to get strictly A's and B's, my mindset is very dedicated. I am very independent, also. I know it's POSSIBLE, but is it probable? When I say university I just want to be able to attend a university such as Texas Tech, Arkansas State, or anything really that is pretty big and good. I can't imagine life without going to a university, I don't want community college, and I don't want to be the person scrubbing by.

But then sometimes I think I can live life laid-back, and I don't need college. But I shrug that thought to the pits of my mind most of the time.

I think maybe it's important to note that I have not and do not participate in any school organizations or clubs. Throughout the years i've always thought of these as taking up time that can be spent doing something else. I'm become more interested.... slightly.

Junior year is coming. I want to do very good in Junior, and suprise everybody. When a University recruiter sees my grades as low during most of my years, but a nice increase in Junior and Senior, will they think that i've changed and this will be constant? I've always thought that I was going to go, but recently it feels like i've been hit with a huge brick. My grades are NOT good enough. I will not be going to a University like i've planned for the past 16 years, unless I do something. Is that something a thing i've already explained? Or do you have better advice?

Sorry for all the personal information and added things, I just felt it was nessesary, but it probably wasn't. I'm just looking for advice, I don't want to be standing alone with fake hope.
 
Go for it. Get off your lazy ass and go for it :goodjob:
 
Texas Tech will let you in if you graduate high school and get a certain minimum score on the SAT (take it in June between your Junior and Senior year). Your high school grades won't matter if your SAT score is high enough. They even offer automatic scholarships if your SAT is high enough. Get off of the internet and start studying for the SAT.
 
No worries. You can get a GED and still get accepted to many colleges as long as you do well on your SAT's.

Just write your college essay on how you overcame your Internet addiction (and in the meantime, enjoy it ;) :D).
 
Texas Tech will let you in if you graduate high school and get a certain minimum score on the SAT (take it in June between your Junior and Senior year). Your high school grades won't matter if your SAT score is high enough. They even offer automatic scholarships if your SAT is high enough. Get off of the internet and start studying for the SAT.

Interesting, and very helpful, but might I ask for a source or anything official? I'm not saying I don't trust you.:)
 
Thanks a lot for fishing that for me. By the way, both of my parents graduated from Texas Tech and my brother attended(but dropped out).
 
11 and 12th are what count the most including SAT I would say. So I don't think you should have too much of a problem. Join some clubs. MUN is good. Do social service and things like that. That stuff counts a lot. And make sure the essay is good as well.
 
Most colleges really don't care about your sophomore or freshman grades. Your grades Junior and Senior year matter more, but if you get all A's and B's and do well on the SAT you should be able to get into a good college. You're still a Sophomore, you're young, there's plenty of time for you to shape up academically, physically, and spiritually.
 
What Elrohir said is pretty much true.

I don't know of anyone that made it through college without committing to a lot of tedious school work. If you have trouble keeping up with high-school homework then college is going to be worse because you won't have anyone nagging at you to get it done.

If you are able, you might consider joining the military or doing something similar that retrains you to be more self-motivated and self-sufficient.
 
Like everybody else, I advise you to try your hardest to get good grades in Junior and Senior years. Not only will it greatly help you get a good University, but you'll also know if you're able to do the level of work that will be required if you're planning to have an academically successful college experience.
 
Well... First gratz for kicking thw WOW habit, and realising religon is a load of crap.

Now I have the same internet obsession as you, and while I'm scraping by for now it's quite hard. I've found I can still do well if I concentrate on working instead of posting. As for colleges I think a good SAT will fix all of your problems, take an AP course or two. If you can get up and do it then your past shouldn't really matter.

Finally if it doesn't work most Community Colleges have pograms where you work at them with a GPA of 3.0+ And get automatic admission into a major college.

Hope I can help, and good luck:goodjob: the good people of CFC are always here to support you:)
 
Just get back to working hard. If you improve over the course of high school, any college will understand. It would even make a good topic for an application essay (assuming Texas Tech has those; I don't know) if you discuss how stuck you felt during sophomore year and how you turned things around for yourself.

I'm afraid the only solution is to do your homework and study. I was always really reluctant to study in freshman year of high school, and I tended to do my homework in the hallways before class. Don't do that; it's bad, and you aren't learning. I turned things around in sophomore year; I joined clubs and became involved. I joined the debate team and the swim team and the quiz bowl team, and I was captain of the quiz bowl team senior year. I did community service over every summer working in a local nature reserve clearing trails. Senior year, I got an internship at my local congressman's office. Despite some terrible grades freshman year, I'm at Yale now.

Those are the sorts of things you need to do. Once you start becoming involved, it's as addicting as any computer game. Find a club that really interests you and take it all the way. Schedule some time to do homework and study every night. Only allow yourself an hour on the computer on weekdays and two hours on the weekends. Just keep at it; you can definitely get into Texas Tech!

Good luck :)
 
My grades started to slip a little in 9th and 10th grade. I raised them up to B+ to C+ range (they were at C and D) and I'm currently attending a local technical college with no problems whatsoever getting in. I wish I'd had paid more attention during my Business Math class in High School (as I paid for it last semester, busted my a$$ in Consumer Math and still failed), but I'm still doing quite well.

I was the Biology, Psychology, History, Ag type of student. In my breaks (lunch and such) we subverted the security of the Net Admins computer system and installed many games (Doom, Unreal Tournament, AoE, etc).
 
Of course it's possible to get A's and B's, I do it all the time.
The hard part is getting straight A's.

Trust me, I had the same addiction (but with another Blizzard game, curse you Blizzard!) and I realized that I had to stop. I was up until 1 am playing because the game was so addicting. I lost my appetite just sitting there, clicking and moving around and killing monsters. Just remember that you have to put time aside for school because it is the most important thing right now. :)
 
:eek: Zande33 is a lurky lurker!

it's good you want to get your act together. i'm actually kind of the same way. except my grades only are less than they should be because i don't do homework. those SATs are gunna help a lot. :D
 
Back
Top Bottom