I really don’t know what to do now… As an international student, I still don’t get used to the quarter system. I got around 2.8-3 for my first quarter as a freshman. Are there any ways that I can improve my scores and get into a good graduate school such as UCLA, USC? What are the minimum gpa requirements for the good graduate schools?
Go to tutoring sessions and office hours to improve your chances.
The quarter system is only 10 weeks.
You have to become familiar with everything taught in the courses in less than 10 weeks.
Your course deadlines are outlined by the professors’ syllabi.
Go to every tutoring session BEFORE you fall behind.
If you haven’t joined a study group yet, find one for each subject.
Your problem is that you are thinking about grad school, which is 10 times worse, if you don’t know how to study. Focus on one step at a time. Stop thinking about grad school and focus your efforts on your current classes.
I liked the quarter system, but I agree that the end of the quarter can sneak up rather suddenly. I didn’t run into the quarter system until I was at graduate school, by which time I had much better work habits than I had when I was younger.
The main thing is to keep up always at all times. Do your homework as close as possible to the day that it is assigned.
I think that you need to focus your efforts on this quarter’s classes, do as well as you can for the next couple of years, then see where you are wrt graduate school.
I had one bad semester as an undergrad and still got into a very good graduate school. You just had your bad quarter early. Now you have to learn the lesson and keep up from now on.
Don’t think about grad school yet.
First, think about what you didn’t do that you can do second quarter:
Office hours (in every subject right from the beginning to get to know the Prof/TA)
Tutoring
Study group
Prep BEFORE the class : highlight, take notes, etc.
Going to class with highlighted notes and jotting down by hand (<= helps learning) key ideas but also questions to ask during office hours