So all throughout high school, I was a straight-A student, and studying/academics had never been an issue for me. Currently I go to UNC-CH and my GPA was scary after first semester (2.5), with the whole adjusting to college life and being out-of-state thing…
Anyway, the class that brought me down was Calculus I, which I had taken at a Governor’s School during high school and hoped to receive college credit for, but didn’t (they gave me credit for a lower-level math but not calculus). Basically the calculus professor here really messed everyone up with her tests, considering my free response questions were near-perfect and the multiple choice portion was pretty ugly. I talked to my academic advisor after first semester about how my calculus did not get transferred here, and upon comparing the course syllabi, I realized I could have pushed it and gotten credit for it - however, according to her, it is too late to do anything about it. And here I am second semester, doing SO much better with my grades but my first semester GPA is not helping my overall GPA. I don’t know what to do other than keep worrying about it especially since I’m premed and I need calculus for my major…
What was your final Calculus I grade? Do you have to take Calculus II for your major? It is entirely normal for top straight-A students to struggle their first semester and the first year of college. College is SO much more different than high school. The first semester is usually the worst. What other courses did you not perform well in? Don’t let the bad semester get you down. You still have a shot at medical school. At this point, regroup and make sure you understand what was going wrong for you academically wise, socially, etc. From here and on you need just to continue to focus on your classes and performing well.
As a pre-med, you know you have a lot of hurdles ahead (orog, biochem…). Unless the Calculus professor gave everyone C or D in that class, you need to learn how to earn an A in a difficult class in college.