Yeah. I was lucky enough to go to an exceptionally academic private school but it unfortunately was really strict about grading. There had been only three 4.0's in the past 40 years. I had a 3.68, which was pretty good considering I was taking honors and AP classes as much as I could (which were graded out of 4, not 5). You basically had to bank on the college admissions person having heard of the school's reputation to get in and unfortunately our college counselor spent more time with the rich kids.

In the end, grades aren't the final determining factor in your life, though. I ended up going to a state school for a year until I dropped out to get a degree in England with a program I was much more interested in. The credits didn't transfer, so it was kind of a waste, but it gave me confidence being away from home. Then I got disillusioned with that degree but it ended up being tangentially related to what I found I actually wanted to do, so it still ended up being a stepping stone for an MSc in that. Back in the States I ended up spending a couple years working in the rural midwest until I could get a job I really liked. In the moment, those numbers on a piece of paper feel like they'll determine your life's fate, but I've found they're less important that people fear them to be. You might not leap to where you want to be, but it can still be possible to find stepping stones in the same direction.