Can i still get into harvard or a ivy league school?

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You're going to have to do much better than a 3.8 for Harvard....

Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you'd be close to being in the running for Harvard or any other Ivy. Lots of kids have serious music or acting careers, where they are actually working, yet they still keep their grades up and are competitive for the Ivies. So busy with career is not a good excuse to them. With anything much under a 4.0 unweighted GPA, you really don't have much of a chance at all, unless you were homeless for years and are still close to a 4.0. Seriously. And anyone just a touch under 4.0 likely attends an extremely rigorous private school (curriculum literally twice+ as tough than a good public school), or an athlete. But even the athletes need close to a 4.0. There are lots of hardcase stories, but college is going to be tough, so they want students who can push through and still achieve no matter what they're going through. 85% of Ivy admits are qualified, yet only 6% are admitted to Harvard, up to 10% to other Ivies, a bit more for the lesser Ivies. These are amazing kids, their resumes would blow you away. The Ivies want Experts, national awards, something really wow that makes a student stand out. Top colleges look at unweighted GPAs, (4.0 max), then they see how many Honors/AP classes you've taken and received A's, and your AP test scores. For the Ivies, you really need to score 5's. And 800 or very close to 800 for your SAT II's, if you want to be competitive, especially if you have glitches in your resume. Being realistic it's unlikely you could get a 2400 on the SAT if you let your grades slip so much, no matter how bright you are, you missed out on important learning. Did you know that over 25% of Harvard admits get over 2350 on the SATs? What did you get on the practice PSAT? If you didn't score over 230 without much prepping, then you're going to have to do lots and lots and lots of studying. Getting 2400 is luck on top of preparation, that exactly what you studied will be on the test, think of all those vocab words that are possible! Lots of kids in my area, especially private school students, spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, all summer long, in extremely rigorous SAT prep, every summer of high school. Top students, but they're willing to spend that much time to get a 2400 rather than a 2300. And they'll have 15+ AP classes with 5's on all the tests, seriously, and 5 pages of an excel spreadsheet (in 9 point font!) of impressive extracurriculars (published research papers, etc) and that still isn't enough to guarantee admission. My dh participates in the admissions process for his Ivy alma mater, so I'm aware of how it works. Your teacher doesn't seem to understand what the competition is. Of course, apply, but also look at other colleges that will be a better fit. Good luck!