<p>Long story short, I'm looking at a 1.9 gpa after my first semester at college. (engineering major). I learned a lot of things about college and the way you have to prepare yourself for the classes that I had no experience with in high school. I expected to breeze through college as I did high school.... not gonna happen. </p>
<p>So my question is: </p>
<p>is there any thing I can do beside try better next semester?</p>
<p>Specifically, is it possible to just erase this semester and start as a freshman next semester? I believe this would be ideal.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can just ‘erase’ the semester.</p>
<p>The best you can do for next semester is to be on top of things. It seems like you’ve learned a lot and are a lot better prepared for next semester. Make goals for yourself, don’t procrastinate, get study groups, etc.</p>
<p>Also, don’t take more courses than you can realistically take. Have some engineering courses while adding in a fun class or one that can satisfy other requirements but isn’t too overwhelming.</p>
<p>One of the things most college students do not take advantage of is office hours. Your professors and TA’s can help with questions you have about the material or how to prepare for their tests.</p>
<p>If you transfer to another college, you will start over with a fresh GPA at that new college because GPAs don’t transfer. But your first semester 1.9 will forever be on your transcript for your current college. It may also be quite difficult to transfer with a 1.9, unless you take some courses at a community college and do well in order to show improvement. But no, you can’t “erase” it. </p>
<p>Also, usually only courses with a grade of “C” or better will transfer, so even if you did apply to transfer, it is likely that many of your courses would not transfer and you’d practically be starting over anyway. </p>
<p>Make use of professors’ office hours, and don’t wait until the last minute to study. Do a little studying every week for each class, even if you don’t have homework. The information will more easily be retained if you consistently study over the course of the semester and not just the night/week before a major test.</p>
<p>Your school might have grade forgiveness, which will let you retake and replace grades in your GPA. I know USC lets you retake up to two courses under that policy.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is just suck it up though and take your classes next semester very seriously.</p>
<p>Let’s say you buckle down and make all A’s next semester and are taking an equal load of classes, your GPA would go from a 1.9 to a 2.95. And if you could do that again for a third semester, your GPA would go up to a 3.3. That’s <em>without</em> grade forgiveness.</p>
<p>All is not lost.</p>
<p>As far as getting the good grades, try:
*Going to Office Hours
*Utilizing an tutoring services your university offers
*Taking practice test before exams
*Recording lectures
*Starting earlier to prepare for exams</p>
<p>You said so yourself that you learned a lot this semester about preparing for classes. You probably have the tools that you need to succeed. You just need to apply them.</p>
<p>AUGirl makes a very good point about the next few semesters weighing heavily on your overall gpa. This is very good news if you do well, but compounds the problem if you continue to do poorly. It’s harder to change your gpa the more semesters you have behind you. </p>
<p>By now, you should have a better idea of how you should be allocating your time over the course of the semester. Use break to get a head start on calc, chem, physics, or whatever else you’re going to be taking this upcoming semester.</p>
<p>My first semester in college I got straight Fs (with a B in a 1 credit course).</p>
<p>I started at a new uni and applied for the business program. It’s a competitive application process and while my GPA at this school is a 3.65, with the old school it was about a 3.1. </p>
<p>And I got in to the program. Moral of the story? Work harder and/or smarter and get great grades. Some schools do have “freshman forgiveness” as AUGirl mentioned. But either way, just do great from here on forward and you’ll be fine.</p>