How Much Do Schools Care About Extenuating Circumastances?

First off, I am not looking to gain pity by any means. What happened, happened. The past is the past.

Nonetheless, how much do colleges look at events that may have affected grades throughout high school? Freshman year was pretty good with seven A’s and one B. During sophomore year however, I lost a close family member and my grades suffered, and ended up getting one A, four B’s, and three C’s. Aimed to do better junior year, but then lost another close family member. Grades still improved though with 4 A’s and 4 B’s.

Also, I want to add that the three classes I received C’s in were AP, and my cumulative GPA comes out to be 3.42 out of 4.

I know this will hurt me in the admissions process, but I believe that I have grown through these experiences, and truly value them because they taught me loads and made me into a more mature person who is ready for what the world has to throw at him.

Can anyone let me know how much this will hurt my chances at UNC-CH, NC State, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, and possibly UPenn?

And also, many scholarships require GPA’s of about 3.5 or higher, is there anything I can do based upon these circumstances to possibly qualify?