Is it too late too get into a good university, at least a UC, if I improve my grades?

Question

I was always a smart student in school, but then in high school, I had all sorts of problems I had to deal with, so my GPA suffered.

I am a junior in high school and these were the classes and grades that I had:

Freshman Year:

(1st Semester)
Engineering/Design: A-
Physical Science Honors: B
Spanish I: B
English I: B-
Geometry: B-

(2nd Semester)
Physical Science Honors: B
World Geography: B
Geometry: B-
English I: C
Spanish I: C

Sophomore Year:

(1st Semester)
English II Honors: A
Biology Honors: A
World History: B
Spanish II: B-
Algebra II: C+

(2ndSemester)
English II Honors: B
Biology Honors: B
World History: B
Spanish II: C+
Algebra II: C-

These are the classes that I'm taking this year:

U.S. History
Trig/Pre-Calc
Choir
A.P. Chemistry
English III Honors
Spanish III

Answer 1

Work hard to keep your grades up for the next three semesters. Colleges like to see improvement. Also, whatever was going on that made your grades slip, write an essay about it when you're doing your applications. Sometimes colleges will cut you some slack if you're clearly a bright kid but had a lot to deal with at home or whatever for a while. I'd say you should apply to some smaller schools as well as UCs because they're more likely to pay personal attention to your application, and so they're more likely to take into account whatever was going on in your life, whereas UCs will tend to basically through out applications below a certain cutoff for GPA and SAT scores. Kids do get into good schools with grades lower than that, and I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. Also, there's a program you might want to look into at some of the UCs, where you can go to Community College for two years, and are guaranteed admission to the UC school after that as long as you keep your grades above a certain level (which I think is like a B or something, which is nothing at a CC).

Answer 2

Your grades are nothing to be ashamed of,but there's always room for improvement, especially in math and Spanish. Hit the books hard this year and next, and if your grades aren't quite up to par, you could always go to community college. But don't think of that now. Just concentrate on getting some of your subjects out of C's.

Answer 3

Sure, just put your nose to the grindstone and crack them books. Math seems to be your downfall right now, but with a good tutor you can get back on track. If you do well on your SAT or ACT you can get into a good university. Take the practice tests online or buy one from a bookstore or get one from a high school counselor. It's never too late.