I’m a sophmore but now becoming a junior year now after summer break for me and I haven’t really been caring for my grades as much as I did like in middle school. During freshman year I transferred into my high school knowing no one in the entire school or anyone in the entire state. (I lived on an island most of my life). It sort of affected my studies and classes because I was mainly focused on making friends and trying to get used to my new life. My Freshman GPA were:
Semester 1- 3.5
Semester 2- 3.3
During sophmore year I just ended up walking by it not giving a care in the world about it, I was focused on other parts of life at the time mainly friends since although I had a group of friends they didn’t feel like real friends to me. I should’ve focus more on my studies but didn’t sadly :(. Took 1 AP known as AP World. My sophmore GPA were:
Semester 1- 3.3
Semester 2- 3.3
Now that I am approaching junior year I realized I should be focusing on studies and my grades now than all the other stuff happening. For junior year I’m taking:
Japanese 5/6
Human Anatomy Honors
APUSH
AP Literature
Art
Integrated Math III
I’m studying for major classes such as APUSH and AP Lit with my prep book and human anatomy with some books from the library over the summer so that I know what’s happening. Japanese is my easiest class and I don’t think art is something to study for as for math though I’ll practice up on. I want to be able to get a GPA higher than a 3.7, praying for a 4.0. Also going to join more clubs and maybe a sport. I know I can do it I just gotta try this time with my mind clear.
I want to try for colleges like SDSU, UCLA and others but I can’t think of any others yet most likely in future. I just want to mainly know, if I make a change now, will I be able to get into better colleges and still have a chance at a better future. Also just a little extra I’m going to say, it’s pretty crazy how fast time goes by huh? I can’t believe I’m becoming a junior now, I still remember my first day 8th grade xD.
Thanks for any advice and help guys!
Don’t worry about the past as you can’t change it. You’re doing the right thing by cracking down junior year. However, your GPA may be a bit low for the UCs. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have a bad GPA at all- but the UCs tend to be GPA centric in their decisions.
You’re on the right track looking at private schools, as they tend to be more holistic admissionsy- University of Redlands may be a good fit for you. It’s in San Bernadino and the campus is beautiful! It’s hard to recommend schools without knowing your SAT score, but you may want to look at Chapman as well. There are a lot of great choices in SoCal that will recognize your hard work.
Keep going!
You need to calculate your UC/CSU GPA by end of Junior year: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
UC’s and Cal states only use 10-11th grades (exception is SLO that uses 9-11th grades) for their GPA calculation, so you want to try get as close to a 4.0 as possible Junior year to bump it up by application time.
Cal States except Cal Poly SLO admit by eligibility and major
EI= (CSU/UC GPA x 800) + (SAT Math+CR) or EI= (CSU/UC GPA x 200) + (ACT composite x 10)
A high test score can compensate for a lower GPA for the Cal States.
If you are an in-state California student, you have plenty of options 23 Cal states and maybe 1-3 of the UC’s along with many good private schools.
Much will depend upon 1) how much you and your parents can afford to pay for college 2) your GPA at time of application 3) test scores ACT and/or SAT 4) HS course rigor/EC’s and essays.
Work hard Junior year, prep for the tests and come back with your updated stats.
Look at you local Cal state for a possible safety school. Also consider UC Merced/Riverside and Santa Cruz for the UC’s. For Privates, consider Whittier College, University of La Verne, University of Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Cal Baptist, St Mary’s to name a few options.
Your grades are sort of “Okay”. If you focus during Junior year you should be able to pull this up significantly, which will help a lot in applying to universities. I would expect UCLA and UC Berkeley to be pretty much out of the picture at least for undergrad. However, there are a lot of very good universities in the California system (UCs and State Universities) and you should be able to get into a good one.
You also should do some ACT or SAT preparation and try to do well on these.
Regarding: “is it too late”; No, not at all. You have a lot to gain by focusing on education for next year and seeing where that takes you. I like your plan to do some studying over the summer in preparation.
Regarding: “it’s pretty crazy how fast time goes by huh?” Yup.
Thank you all for you advice! I somewhat know what to do now and what to get ready for 
Since you are playing catchup on the GPA, I think it’s important to ensure you have the 8 semesters of AP/Honors (approved Honors) classes to bump up your UC/CSU GPA - provided these are your main targets.
You aren’t late by any measure… For SDSU, you need about a 3.6 CSUGPA and 1250 as a non-local applicant. You can almost certainly bring your GPA up to that level if you work hard and choose the right classes. This will sound like heresy but, take classes in which you know you can earn As. You wouldn’t believe how many kids in your situation sign up for a couple of unmanageable classes like AP Calc to prove their college worthiness and fail. Do not let that be you. Look at approved honors/AP classes for the GPA boost - but get the low-down on the ones that flame people out or require hours and hours of work .
I would also add that, even with a 3.3, there are lots of college doors open to you.
Do your best and I am confident you will have an academic pathway available to you in a few years.
I was honestly think of doing something like AP calc @NCalRent to make it look better for college. Thanks for the warning and tips also can you explain to me what an approved honors is?
https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution?f=institutionTypeName%7CSchool;
Find you high school on that site. All a-g courses will be listed and marked as AP/IB/Honors eligible. Generally, an honors class is harder than the standard class but, not as challenging as AP. As long as it is on the UC list, you still get the GPA bump. Some high schools offer honors classes that UC/CSU doesn’t recognize so, choose carefully.
Good luck.
I’m not sure if you are finished junior year or not but if still in school I would get with your GC ASAP and look at your schedule. You may need to adjust to hit your 8 semesters of AP/Approved Honors. At most schools the approved honors list is small so don’t assume you have the 8 semesters covered.
Also, as @NCalRent shared, try to make choices that you believe you can do well with as Junior Yr is your year to ramp your GPA for UC/CSU’s. Save the extra hard AP for senior year and select another AP in your schedule that you can do well with. Maybe bump Art to AP Art History.
@my2caligirls I’m going into my junior after summer break. Also I’m going to email my GC to see if I’m on track. Thanks for the advice!