Expert: Sue Kayton - 9/6/2008

Question
Im a junior in high school now just started. My first 2 years were pretty bad i had to do homeschooling my freshman year and did reaallly bad no one would help i failed one class too. My gpa right now is 2.3969. Im not a bad student im smart and capable but i had a marijuana problem really big problem and my grades suffered.. These last 2 years i know i will do very well gpa of atleast 3.6 for both years. I will take 2 AP maths statistics and calculas my senior year im good at math. I also am good at business classes which i will get A's in also. My question is could i still bring my GPA up to a 3.0 ??? and im only in one club FBLA. no sports no volunteer work its a small town. I do however come from Russia and speak Russian. My top choice right now is Indiana University but i would be happy if i can get into a top 50 finance program ?? I also will aim to get atleast 2000 on my SAT.

Answer
Don't worry so much about where you go undergrad.  In the finance world, what really matters is the MBA program.  So apply to colleges that you have a reasonable chance to get into, plus one or two "stretch" schools, then work hard undergrad, get really good grades, and do well on the GRE.  Then apply to MBA programs.

A "stretch" school is one that you have a smaller chance of getting into, but you apply to anyhow, hoping they may let you in.  College admissions offices surprise people all the time.  They turn down students that everyone thinks will be admitted, and admit students that nobody expected would get in.

When you write your essays for college application, make sure to write about how you turned your life around.  This will explain your poor grades freshman year, and will show you learned and grew from this experience.

Good luck!