Have I already messed up

Im a sophomore in high school and want to go to a UC, but last year I was lazy and messed up. I’m afraid that my grades were too low to be overlooked.
I know that UC has a different scale of gpa so I have a shot if I do really well this year and next year, but I don’t think I’m doing good enough to get into ANY of the UC schools.
Last year I got a 2.8 gpa weighted and 2.6 unweighted
This semester I have a 3.75 weighted 3.5 unweighted and have a few B+ that may go up in the next 3 weeks
I’ve gotten used to my classes and teachers during this semester and i’m hoping that I will be able to get better grades next semester and hopefully they will keep increasing into junior and senior year.
If I’m able to get a 3.6-4.0 for the rest of high school do you think I have a chance of getting accepted into a UC?

It’s possible. The UC does not count freshmen grades.

yep. uc gpa is 10-11 grade only.

UC’s will look at your Freshman grades to determine if you passed all a-g courses but they are not used in the UC GPA calculation. Great that you were able to turn around your grades this year.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

over the Xmas break there is a book I think you should read called “Make it Stick”. This book explains what is known about learning, and also has tips for HS and college students. If the terms “distributed practice” and “self testing” don’t mean anything to you, they ought to – they are 2 of the most effective techniques for studying.

It’s great that you’ve shown improvement in your grades, but hope alone is not going to improve your grades further. You need to (1) understand what the effective practices are (2) take the time to do them.

You could probably get into UCM or UCR

You have NOT messed up. Keep working hard on your grades, and this summer make sure to spend a significant amount of time on SAT or ACT test prep. During the fall of your junior year you can take the test for the first time, and work from there. Good luck, and remember–there are thousands of great universities out there.