2.0 GPA, what colleges can I be accepted to?

I haven't done much in HS except play JV and Varsity football. My SAT predicted score is 990/2400 (750/1600 on the new SAT). What are schools that will take a student such as myself in? I have no idea what I want to do and no direction to it either. I have US citizenship, was born in Dallas Texas, and am in my junior year in HS.

A 2.0 GPA is the unofficial cut-off for a lot of colleges - anything lower and it'll be tough to get admitted. According to our calculations, you would be competitive for the following schools with a 2.0 GPA and an SAT score of 990:

Webber International University (Babson Park, FL) Voorhees College (Denmark, SC) McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA) Jackson College (Lane, TN)

It's also possible to offset a low GPA with a high standardized test score. If you want to increase the amount of colleges you'll be competitive for, putting in the time to study for the SAT and raise your score will have the greatest impact on your chances on getting into colleges. Our article on what to do with a low GPA but a high SAT/ACT score details the ways you can compensate for a low GPA (including making sure admissions officers don't see you as a smart slacker who has potential but doesn't care enough to study - most colleges will take that to mean you won't care enough to do well there, either).

There are also other ways to compensate for a low GPA on your college application, like starting out at a 2-year associate's degree program and transferring to a 4-year college, or looking into programs designed specifically for students who attended underachieving/failing high schools. Starting at a community college can be particularly helpful for students who aren't sure exactly what they want to do because it provides them with a wider range of courses that would be available in high school (which gives students more chances to find something they like and are interested in!).

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