I was near a couple deadlines but nothing too late. I also wrote pretty good essays!

I think my issue was just that other than the newspaper I didn't have a huge amount of valid and/or recent extracurriculars.

what's a weighted GPA?

VERY IMPORTANT ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN THERE.

My personal recommendation would be to attend a community college and get your GEs out of the way first.  This will give you some time to think things over while taking care of important college credits that you'll have to take anyway when you pursue a degree.

Then, if your plan is to get into the game industry, don't rely on a "Game Design Degree" to carry you into the offices of EA or Nintendo.  Game companies don't give three shits about your degree, they only want to know if you can create (Or program.) and do it well.  A well developed and impressive portfolio is far more important to getting your foot in the door than a degree.  A company is more likely to higher someone who does very impressive work than someone who has a degree, but does subpar work.

After you get your GE's out of the way, go ahead a pursue a degree of some sort.  For game development, I recommend Computer Science, rather than the overhyped game design degrees.  The reason is that every game creator is expected to be able to understand at least some code.  This way they can understand what they are creating for, and they can adapt their creations to match.

The most important part is the creation and compilation of a good portfolio.  Look at your work and think to yourself "Would I higher me?"  If you're a designer, include samples of design work.  Many designers even create a demo DVD to show off their animation abilities and such.  Package it well, complete with customized business card DVDs.  Get creative.  You want an employer to look at your stuff, not pass it by.  But then they have to like what they see.

Networking is just as important.  Get to know people in the industry.  Join IGDA (The International Game Developers Association.) http://www.igda.org/  Go to the meetings.  Talk with these people.  Go to the tradeshows and conventions.  These kinds of things get your name around, and they provide opportunities to show off your work.  Have a stack of your demo DVDs you created or something to give to developers.  The right person is bound to see it.

Waving around a Game Design Degree is not going to get you a job.  If anything, the only thing it will get you is someone asking to see some of your work.  There is demand for good people in this industry, but there are a LOT of people out there trying to get in.  What makes you stand out from them will determine whether you get a job or not.

Try this site for some good information on creating your portfolio:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson12.htm