<p>Just try harder next semester. 2.8 seems bad but it isn’t going to kill you. (you wouldn’t want it for your overall GPA but for one semester it is recoverable from) As for whether it will get better that depends on what classes you take. (for example: if you are an engineer it really won’t get better but maybe you will get better)</p>
<p>I could also be that you just got unlucky in your class picks (like the class wasn’t a good fit for you) and you were adjusting to like at Duke. (though I would still double my efforts next semester if I were you)</p>
<p>Oh and while people will still look at freshman grades if you show improvement in subsequent semester people might be persuaded to write it off as adjustment pains and not take it too much into account.</p>