I had a really good freshman year academic wise. I took two honors classes (English & Biology) along with regular Math & Spanish 2. My gpa both semesters was a 3.7. My extracurriculars were marching band, choir, & track and I also made honor roll both semesters. Despite having such a good freshman year, I had a really bad sophomore year. I was someone who never needed to study until this year. I took Chemistry, AP European History, Honors English, & Spanish 3. Math was not my strong suit and that definitely affected me in chemistry I got a C in both classes and my gpa was the lowest it had ever been at a 3.2 which is not competive at all. Second semester I did get more serious and ended up with high C’s in both Math & Chemistry. I also took on a collge class after school and that gave me an extra gpa boost. My gpa second semester was a 3.5. Not my best, but I did make honor roll. I did do track again, but I was not involved due to being very stressed out with chemistry and math because at the start of the semester I had an F in both classes, but I did manage to get 60 hours of community services through relay for life, special Olympics, etc. Next year I am taking on 3 Ap classes along with another Collge class after school, I have 2 club positions, and I am doing mock trial & track again. I was just wondering will having a good junior year make up for such a bad sophomore year ? My dream school is UT Austin & I’m really nervous that I may have ruined that by struggling sophomore year .
UT Austin is unlikely at this point. My advice is to focus less on ECs and more on academics. Good luck.
- When when I said I had an F during the start of the semester I meant those were not my final grades. My final grades form both math & chemistry where high C's.
I’d strongly caution you against having a “dream school” – the people I see most hurt by the college admission process are those who decide on one dream school that is a reach (as yours is) and then they don’t get in. Do your best junior year and then seek out a group of reach, match, and safety schools that fit your academic profile and financial needs.
I do have saftey schools. I just really don’t want to go to them. (Channel Islands, CSUN, Fullerton) Those are all schools I knew people who had D’s & F’s got into.
Safety schools have to be schools that are affordable AND that you would be happy to attend. You found some schools you can get into, but they are not safety schools in my opinion.
Wait until you have standardized test scores before focusing on specific colleges.
I totally agree with @happy1. While of course you should continue to strive for your reaches, you should also look for at least one school where your acceptance is assured, you would be happy, and would be affordable. Good luck!
I would not consider CSU Fullerton a safety school until you have your CSU GPA and test scores.
Also regarding acceptances with D’s and F’s. You might want to check out this thread about a poster whom was rescinded by CSU Fullerton for a D 1st semester in English Senior year and I have seen 4 posters that have been recently rescinded from UC Irvine for low grades (D’s and F’s).
Probably worth considering community college as a safety and can get you where you want to go after 2 years. Good luck.
Good for you that you are reflecting on your past academic performance! In answer to your question, yes, college admissions do look for upward grade trends. If you kick butt your Jr. year, it will show alot about your potential and your character. Based on the info you gave, it looks like you have around a 3.4-3.5 GPA. Do really well in your courses, study consistently for the SAT/ACT (do not leave this to last minute cramming), and focus on 1-2 EC’s. I think that you will find good 4 yr college opportunities. Regarding UT: It’s ok to have a dream school because it makes you shoot for the stars. If you fall short, you are still in a great position for lots of other schools. Be open to change 
UT Austin admits top students, IE., straight A students. In addition, it costs 50k a year so unless your parents have 200k in savings it’s not a real possibility.
However if you tell us what you like about UT, we can find universities that share the same characteristics and are accessible to B/B+ students with strong curriculum rigor.
Getting Ds and Fs (unless retaken) means no admission to the CSU’s BTW, no matter what other students may say.