when a college looks at your GPA do they see 4 separate GPAs from all four years or do they see one GPA based off all your classes from grades 9-12? I’m asking because freshman and part of sophomore year my grades were awful and I didn’t take school seriously so that would hurt my overall GPA significantly
When you apply to college, most will see 3 years worth of grades and will take the cummulative of all 3 years. Some colleges will ask for Mid-year Senior grades so 3 1/2 years worth of grades and some colleges do not consider Freshman grades in their GPA calculation.
All you can do now is work on getting good grades and show colleges that you are serious. An upward GPA trend will be helpful (better late than never).
There are always other options. Consider taking a Gap year where you will submit all 4 years of grades. Consider attending a community college, do well there and transfer to a good 4 year university.
There are thousand of colleges in the US, so there will be many schools willing to accept you based on what GPA you have by the end of Junior year. What is important is finding a good fit and if you will be happy at these colleges.
You can post your stats here and CC posters can give you some good suggestions of which schools may be worth applying.
Good Luck.