Bad GPA. Scared a little bit...!!!

Hello all! So my grades were terrible freshman year because to be honest, I only cared about being social and didn’t care about school. Biggest mistake of my life. Anyways, I’m currently a junior and have an upward trend. Here are my stats:
UW GPA: 85
W GPA: 88
SAT: 1070 (500 M, 570E, 16/24 Essay)
ACT: 21 Essay = 9 (didn’t study)
I’m retaking it this month and my projected is a 27 after much practice. I will get this up at a 30 hopefully in the September one.
EC’s:
Varsity Gymnastics - freshman year
JV Volleyball - sophomore year
Had to quit all sports because I had a terrible concussion from volleyball. (Impacted my grades as well.)
Key Club: Vice-President (Junior Year) President (Senior Year)
Students Against Destructive Decisions Club:
Chairperson of Fundrasing (Junior Year)
President (Senior Year)
Peer Drug Educator (Had to be accepted into this educating program.)
Volunteered the summer after sophomore year at my schools summer academy. (112 hours.)
Tutored kids - some with ADD/ADHD (20 hours.)
I work after school everyday for 2 1/2 hours. (Tutor and babysit.)

I don’t really have much to say for awards besides the fact that I was a top 100 finalist in a video competition but that’s basically it.

Letters of Rec:
Pre-Calc teacher: 7/10 —> I participate a lot in class and this is the best I’ve every done in math in my entire high school career. I don’t really have much of a personal connection like he does with some students. I’m not a straight -A student in his class but I do but in a lot of effort. He said he’d write me one and smiled and that’s pretty much it.

US History Honors teacher: 8/10 —> Had her for freshman year and now junior year. She LOVED me freshman year and now this year she favors my friend a lot which I get bc she’s a really goood student. Anyways, I started this this year off bad in her class bc I would either always be absent or come in late. Not anymore since I have a first period class now since I didn’t first semester. But anyways my grades have gone up in her class significantly and I just wasn’t sure how to study for her class at first since it was honors material but I slowly adjusted. She commented on my report card that I have commendable effort and am a concientious student. I participate more now as well. Overall, she didn’t say much when I asked her, she said okay and that was it. With my friends she actually said like yea of course but it’s fine, from this point on till the end of the school year I’ll really work harder than usual.

Guidance Counselor: 9/10 —> Switched guidance counselors this year because my old one didn’t help me that much. She’s also my sisters counselor and is great and supportive. Since I’m new to her it won’t be amazing but I’m glad I have her support and that she’s really nice.

I also have 4 AP’s and lots of honors classes. I want to major in psychology. I think I got either a 4 or 5 on the exam.
I’m a very weak applicant I know, but I will try to get my ACT up to a 30 no matter what.

So what are my chances at these schools?

IDEK WHY I AM APPLYING TO SOME OF THESE EITHER LOL.
U of Michigan
USC (dream school lol…!!!)
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Penn State (My sister goes here.)
Binghamton
U of Arizona
UConn
Indiana U Bloomington
UMass Ahmerst
University of Delaware
Drexel University
U of Maryland (spending my summer here doing mock trial bc I got accept into their term young scholars program.)
U of Miami
Syracuse University
University of Vermont
Tulane
Ohio State
University of Buffalo
SUNY Onenta

Get the ACT score up and make sure that you take advantage of the Additional Information section on your application. I would also strongly recommend that you cut down the amount of schools you’re applying to. For every one school you will be definitely applying to, cross another on off the list. I would also definitely limit the amount of safeties. If I were you, I would keep two safeties and get rid of the rest. Then I would start to express a lot of interest in the remaining colleges. Send them emails, set up interviews, just show them your interest. Showing interest is the same as adding 5 points to your GPA. If I were you, I would also not focus my attention on worrying about grades…there’s not much you can do to greatly impact it at this point. Instead, I would work on really raising those test scores. If you can’t prove yourself with your grades, make them think twice with your test scores. Good luck.

Definitely do what you can to improve your grades. I gather from your post that you have taken ACT preparation and will retake – also a good idea. The upward trend should help.

Where you should apply probably depends upon how much you can improve your GPA and test scores. If you don’t improve them both by quite a bit, then personally I would drop the first five from the list (U of Michigan, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Penn State), or maybe only leave one or two of these.

For the others on your list, this is still quite a long list. You should run the NPC on each and see which ones you and your parents can afford. Compare your GPA and test scores with averages for incoming students at each school (personally I would want to be in the top half for both, but anywhere in the middle half should be okay if you get in and if you want to do it). Try to find out more about these schools on-line and do some visits (probably focusing on the nearest ones first, or ones where you happen to be visiting nearby).

I don’t think that you need to be scared. You should get into some schools which are a very good fit for you.

No chance at UCLA/UCB and USC with current GPA and test scores. Think UW GPA of 3.8 minimum, ACT of 33+ and SAT scores 1450+. If you are not a CA resident, then UCLA/UCB will be full fees at $60K/year with no financial aid.
Drop the “dream school” mentality and look for realistic college options. Remember where you go for Undergrad will not define you, it is what you do with the opportunities you are given.

These are out of reach with your current stats:
U of Michigan
USC (dream school lol…!!!)
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Penn State
Indiana U Bloomington
U of Maryland
U of Miami
Syracuse University
Tulane

These are reaches:
Binghamton
UConn
UMass Amherst
Drexel University
U of Miami
Syracuse University
Ohio State
University of Buffalo

^That last post was a tad harsh. Don’t give up on your dream college, but instead, let that passion to make it drive you to be able to get in. You can’t win the grades game, but you can dedicate yourself to becoming someone so desireable to colleges that they will be willing to overlook your grades. This is best accomplished through your essays. Pour your heart and soul into them, and then maybe, maybe you’ll be able to make it.

Best of luck!

Sorry if I came off as harsh, but OP has no chance at the UC’s since they are OOS and there is a minimum UC GPA required to just apply. To me, the list looks like a bunch of colleges OP has heard about but has not researched into seeing where they even have a chance of attending.

Dream’s are fine but if OP wants to go to College, then they need to set aside their dreams and focus on the reality of getting into a college that will fit them (stat wise) for the moment. OP has not even been mentioned anything about costs or budget. There are 20 schools on the list, which would add up to a substantial costs in application fees alone not to mention the costs of attending many of these schools as an OOS applicant.
@DadTwoGirls has some good advice and hopefully OP will listen.

Better harsh now than heartbreak in April of senior year. We need to know OP’s home state. Even if OP gets a 27, merit is out of the question as are the top schools listed. And, a 27 is projected after studying. The test score is as much of a problem as the GPA for top schools.

But, the good news is a four year university is a real option with a 27. We can provide better info with the home state for in state tuition.