Recommendations for freshman situation

<p>I came into highschool without any concern for grades or anything really academic. But abruptly, by the end of freshmen year, I saw the urgency to start doing better. Unfortunately, my freshman GPA ended up being ~2.9 UW and ~3.1 W (two D's in electives). I turned it around the moment summer started last year, taking Bio Honors + Research and continued to take more difficult courses into my sophomore year (EHAP, English 2 Honors). I ended up with about a 3.7w and 4.4uw sophomore gpa. Right now I'm enrolled in Chem Honors + Research and plan to take 4 APs next year. With consideration to my possible teachers, my predicted GPA is around 3.8 and 4.5 by the time I apply. Where should I apply with such a "stain"? UC's and Stanford are the only two I've found that won't look deeply into my freshman year. Stanford is an extremely far reach and UC's seem to be match -- any options that fall into the middle? I was hoping possibly Northwestern, NYU, Reed, USC, Carleton etc. -- unfortunately, they all seem to give a lot of attention to freshman year.</p>

<p>EDIT: And by predicted GPA, I mean for Soph to Senior GPA.</p>

<p>bump......</p>

<p>most colleges look POSITIVELY on your grade improvement over your high school years. you say something has urged you to do better in school and other things general. why so? if you use this as your essay topic, you will be looked upon not so harshly. good luck!</p>