@ucbalumnus not sure if I did it right, but I got 3.83 using grades after freshman year. And only a-g courses.
What do college admission officers look at when reviewing your transcript? I had a rough start to HS
That is a significant improvement.
UCs are very competitive, though. See http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa.html for more information.
@lowkeyveryhighkey, your op and your story about the math test remind me of tenth grade for myself. I was a good student but not all that diligent. Class structure was a little different then. In 10th grade, chemistry was very hard and generally only taken by the small % of students planning to go to schools with competitive admissions. We had 3 grading periods per semester. I made a “D” the first period and felt pretty disappointed in my effort. The next weekend was rainy, and I spent the whole weekend re-reading all the chapters previously covered and completing all my homework. I made 4 A’s and 1 B the rest of the way and ended up with a B+. I learned a good lesson and went on to a very good national university. I’m always thankful for that “D” and that weekend and how it got me on track.
@TTG Chemistry isn’t my best subject either. I got C’s both semester. Granted it was a zero period class (7am-8am), and the teacher would yell his lectures and we were all practically half asleep. I’m pretty sure I could’ve worked harder in that class.
Funnily enough, it’s the opposite for me. I am super awake in the morning, but by afternoon (physics for me), I am falling asleep during lectures 
@RMNiMiTz I had AP Physics kinda early in the day. around 9-10. The teacher would make it interesting and I paid attention throughout that class. I got a B in that class.
“I’ve worked hard to the extent that my teacher thought I was cheating on tests.”
Something similar happened to Carl Jung (a very famous psychiatrist) when he was in school. He wrote about it in his autobiography (“Memory, Dreams, Reflections”). He ended up being a lot more successful and a lot more famous that the teacher could have ever dreamed of. It sounds like you were able to show your teacher that you can earn a 96 legitimately.
"Stanford, is like no chance unless … and save the president. "
Right now I suspect that Stanford might like you better if you don’t save the president. Regardless, there are a lot of other very good universities in the U.C. system, in California, in the US, and elsewhere as well.
@Lindagaf pointed out “Some schools do not look at Freshman year grades, notably Canadian schools, the UC’s and Stanford.” I have also heard this about both the UCs and Canadian schools. I have a daughter headed off to Canada in the fall and we therefore have looked into schools up there.
Regarding the comment “many students out there with 4.2 GPA’s that have always had 4.2 GPA’s”, this is indeed a good point if you are applying to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, or UCB or UCLA. However, students with 4.2+ GPAs run out long before UCI or UCSB or U.Massachusetts finish filling their freshmen slots, and these are very good schools.
Interesting or not, sometimes I just can’t stay awake 
@DadTwoGirls I am familiar with Carl Jung. I learned about him in AP Psychology. That is interesting, I did not know that about him.
@DadTwoGirls , haha! What a lovely quip about Stanford!
So which schools should I apply to that give a good shot of admittance?
Try starting a new thread on the college search and selection forum where you can post more specifically and people don’t have to wade through the whole post. Provide your stats and tell people what you are looking for in a school. Rural/urban. Big/small. Liberal/conservative, and so on. You can list what majors you might be interested in also.
@Lindagaf Done. Thank you.
I just want to point out that the competitive holistic colleges will look at the transcript, not just gpa. So OP needs to review his record in light of the possible major. Math-sci vs other, depending on whether he thinks a stem direction or not. And then, sub strengths.
Update: Final Junior year GPA: 4.3333. As it says on my transcript. So I guess it’s 2.6 to 4.3 