If I got bad grades Freshman year in high school, do I still have a chance of getting into college?

As a university grad, I can tell you freshman year is not terribly important when schools are checking your grades. The most important grades are 11 and 12, but a good grade 10 will obviously help. They also REALLY want to see good references and volunteer work/extra curricular activities.

Don't let grade 9 get you down, it's a period of change for everyone. Just get your act together and set your goal. I had a very bad grade 10, but I joined teams and clubs throughout grade 11 and 12, met people who were more suited to a strong academic life and the whole experience helped me get my act together.

Join some clubs! It helps so much. Get your grades up and you will be a wonderful candidate :).

I think there's some truth to the rest of these answers. They're probably looking most closely to grades 11 and 12. You can still be in good shape if you turn things around next year.

Even if your first year was a little rough, if they see dramatic improvement, they'll probably be impressed.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.