Will a rigorous junior and senior year make up for a non-rigorous freshman and sophomore year?

Applying to College
1

Hi all.
Thanks for taking some time to read and answer some concerns I had!
My freshman year of high school, I didn’t take any honors classes. The only two offered to us where honors math and honors physics ( we took physics first instead of biology or chemistry).
My sophomore year, I transferred schools. Choosing classes became complicated and confusing as they placed me in all regulars and I didn’t really get the chance to take any honors/AP sophomore year as I wasn’t sure the classes they offered and what I could’ve gotten into if I had just talked to my counselor (regret not doing this).
Anyways, onto the point.
I am planning of making a huge change to my course load next year and stacking up on AP’s/honors and continuing that onto my senior year. I know I can handle it, I just haven’t had the chance to prove that yet.
I’m not too worried about class rank as my school doesn’t rank. They only send the top %10 of students to the public schools in our state for automatic admission. My dream school (USC), won’t see my ranking. However, my second choice (UT Austin), does go by ranking.
Would USC be unimpressed with the non-rigorous freshmen/sophomore year, even if I made it up with the next two years of college? Would this screw up my class ranking and chances for UT?
If any of you are wandering, I made a 3.8 (maybe 3.7? I honestly don’t remember) freshman year. This year (sophomore), I should end with a 4.0 in all my regulars and also hoping to make an A’s in all my advanced classes next year.
It would also probably be best to mention that I understand USC is one of those schools that looks at the full package (not just grades), so that is also being considered in my mind and I have already done tons of research on extracurriculars, essays, recommendations, etc.

Thanks to anyone for the advice you can offer me and hoping someone can ease my anxiety and stress about this!

2

What do you mean by “huge change to my course load next year and stacking up on AP’s/honors”. To what degree do you plan to do this? How many APs and how many honors will you take? Will your school let you jump up so much on course rigor?

3

Add the AP and honors classes that you want to your junior year schedule. HOWEVER, since your foundation may not be as strong as other students taking those classes (ie; it sounds like you took regular physics and now want to jump to AP), I would take into consideration two things. First, you may want to do summer work to prepare for the advanced subject matter, especially in math and science but this could also mean working ahead in AP US History (as I am sure you can buy a copy of the book or at least a review guide). Next, if the summer work fails to prepare you for the advanced material, consider transferring to an easier class before the deadline should you start to have issues. I believe that the schools you mention will look at your GPA first and class rigor second. So taking advanced classes only to hurt your GPA would be a huge mistake. Can you take an honors or AP class over the summer either at your school or online? That could be another way to impress, improve your GPA and prepare for a solid junior year. Good luck!