<p>I'm planning on applying to graduate school. I'm currently double majoring in an engineering and math discipline and both my major GPAs are quite good (4.00 as of junior year).</p>
<p>I studied abroad in my sophomore fall. Since I was really ahead in my courses, I had the option of either taking all elective courses or taking courses that would count towards my major while abroad. I was silly and decided to take the major courses and ended up with a really bad GPA (2.75). Mostly due to a combination of the grading system being a bit new to me, the courses being curved quite harshly, and quite frankly, my being distracted from my studies while being abroad.</p>
<p>I know it's my fault. When I got home though, I did take initiative to make sure I knew the material from those courses as well as I could. I worked through textbooks on those subjects and audited some of the courses at my home institution. Also, as the knowledge from those courses were prerequisites for most of my upper level coursework and I've still maintained a 4.0 at home (my home institution is more rigorous than the one I studied abroad at). </p>
<p>So how badly is this going to be looked down upon when I apply to grad schools?</p>
<p>You will add an additional statement to your application. They will let you do that. In your statement, don’t tell them how much you regret your mistakes. They want to hear what you learned and how it matured you etc. Be political, and have confidence. Make sure rest of your grades are stellar. Give them a reason to admit you, you will be fine.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’d be a big problem, especially because it was in your sophomore year. Grad schools focus on your junior and senior years.</p>
<p>I was in a very similar situation, except I studied abroad in my senior fall (fall 2011). My grades suffered for the same reasons as you. I even failed a class. That brought my overall GPA down to 2.93 just before my graduating semester. I got a 3.93 in my final semester though and that at least brought me back up just above a 3.0.</p>
<p>That final semester (spring 2012), in addition to working hard to bring my GPA back up, I also made great contacts who would write my recommendations, including a professional researcher in my field. I’ve also been working ever since graduation. Last week, I got an admission offer from Cornell for a master in engineering.</p>
<p>Like I said, don’t worry too much about it, especially as a sophomore. Show improvement and motivation, get a good GRE score, write a strong statement of purpose, get good recommendations. If you still don’t feel confident, take a year off for to work. While grades are certainly important (and it sounds like you’re a much better student than I was), being strong in other areas will definitely help out.</p>