hi tyler,
it depends on what you mean by succeed. people who study and read a lot in high school tend to go on doing so through college. i guess that must generally mean that they also still get good grades, but not always, and it's not a linear path. i used to teach college freshmen, and a lot of them did bad for a while just because they were not used to college-level requirements, and then they straightened themselves out. or they didn't, sometimes. or they did really well right away.

on the other hand, getting bad grades in high school or lower SAT scores than you want, does not mean you are doomed for life. i got ok grades in high school and pretty lousy grades in college, because I was just not that interested in what was going on, but I sorted myself out.

you can come back from almost any failure or mistake, short of a major felony. If you're willing to keep working hard, chances are good you're going to be rewarded.

esort