3.1 First Semester

Student Lounge College Life
1

Today I was talking with a friend about school and grades, of course, came up. Looking at all my classes, I just realized that I will probably end up with a 3.1 (3.3 in a veeeery ideal situation) GPA at the end of my first semester in college. To give context,

  • I’m doing 18 credits, granted 3 classes(3,3,1) are due to a computing exploration program I’m in, so they’re beginner level classes. 2 of the exploration classes are Bs that should be As, but aren’t due to pretty inexcusable reasons.
  • 8 credits(4,4) are my CS 1(B) and calc© class, probably my two hardest/most important classes and unfortunately, lowest grades right now.
  • Last 3 credits are for a required humanities class which I should have done better in but will likely get an A- in.
  • I’m also dedicate 10-12 hours a week to extracurriculars, one musical and one academic/professional. 8 hours to work, which is the minimum hour requirement to be able to work.

I plan on doing Computer Science or Software Engineering as a major which are fields where a GPA might not be a huge factor given projects etc, but I’m still quite worried. Should I be worried about ending my first semester with such a low GPA?

2

Do you need a certain GPA to keep a scholarship? If so, then worry about making that cut off. Otherwise just do the best that you can. If you are, and you aren’t satisfied with the results, then figure out what you need to do to get the results you think are adequate. You are a first term freshman, you are learning a lot, you have time to bring it up if you really want to.

3

If you need the GPA to be higher for a scholarship, ask the person who gave it to you if you can have an extra semester to boost your GPA back up. In most cases, they will say yes.