Horrible drop in GPA. Now what?

<p>My grades were recently posted and this semester was probably as bad as it could get for me academically. I dropped from a 3.45 GPA which wasn't high in the first place to a 3.185 GPA now after receiving multiple Cs from all my classes. I've put in the effort and time to study, but I guess I haven't found the problem with my study methods yet.</p>

<p>I'm not too confident that I can receive grades that are any better next semester. So what now? How bad is my situation as a business major who is potentially going to major in Accounting?</p>

<p>sounds like you still have time. You can still pull your GPA back to a 3.6 or 3.7 if you get the extra help you need or slow your course load. Work hard and do any extra work you can not to get any C’s. I’ve seen people pull back and graduate with honors from grades around yours. You just need to take the proper steps to get better grades. Take extra initiative in class and earn your grade. Show the professor that you are willing and able to help other students in the class. Ask around campus for whom the more lenient grading professors are and try to get into their classes. </p>

<p>You’re lucky in that you have a chance to get your GPA up. Take HW, reading assignments, problem sets, etc. more seriously and you should see your grades increase. Go for tutoring if you need the extra help.</p>

<p>You need to ask yourself if you are truly giving 100% effort in the class. I know the easy answer is, yes I am or no I could try a bit harder. But really think about it. What can you do to study smarter. Instead of just reading the chapter, try actively reading by taking notes, making associations, highlighting, etc. And don’t just look at professors notes or the book for help. Try third party sources, you’d be surprised what you find. A was lost in my chem class one time and couldn’t for the life of me understand balancing redox reactions with OH or H2O in them. My book and notes did nothing for me. But I wanted an A, so I looked elsewhere. Guess where I found the solution? A YOUTUBE VIDEO lol. What I’m saying is truly assess your study methods to see if you’re studying as smart as you can, and really putting the effort. Sometimes I would get a bad grade and say, “but I studied, I don’t see how I got a C.” Then I really think, did I study just to say I studied, or did I actually actively study and put in the effort to learn the concepts? I have yet to find a situation in which I got a bad grade and truly gave 100% effort. Similarly, I’ve yet to find a class in which I gave 100% effort and did not get an A. Anytime I didn’t get an A, after TRULY looking at the situation I realize there was more I could have done. Soemtimes its hard to admit laziness, but just saying, “But I read the chapter” isn’t the same as saying, “I put forth 100% effort to study smart enough to get the grade I desired.” Try out a little self assessment.</p>

<p>How are people that you know at your school doing gpa-wise. I notice that you go to Notre Dame, which has a top business school. Are you in Mendoza? What is grade inflation/deflation like there? Maybe your gpa is not that bad relative to your peers, although gpa is important in general for accounting majors. Hope you do better next semester.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. You guys are right. I’m not completely sure as to what I even want to do. I know I want to be in the business world, but my motivation for school work has definitely been lacking this semester as a result of not doing so great in all of my classes across the board. I will indeed need to do some self evaluation and figure out what it is I need to do in order to improve myself. </p>

<p>bhtomp1, yes I’m in Mendoza. The majority of students at ND are actually quite bright. I know a good amount of people who have GPAs around my range, but I know even more who succeed with 3.6-3.9 GPAs. There isn’t any way to generalize it, but I can say there is no grade inflation because there are rarely curves in any of the business classes and I’ve never seen any extra credit being offered in any course. I think courses really are pretty challenging.</p>

<p>well if you’re interested in something business, accounting is a good place to start. worst comes to worst and you don’t get your “dream business job” you have a great skill to fall back on.</p>