<p>So I ended up with a cumulative gpa of 2.96 freshman year of college. I’m pretty disgusted with myself, Calculus 2 killed me and I have no excuse for the other class that I got a C in. I want to be a math major which means retaking calc 2 ALONG with macro. Is it possible for me to raise my gpa to a 3.5 by the end of senior year if I DON’T get straight a’s?</p>
<p>If you really want to be a math major, why don’t you put your basic math skills to work and figure out for yourself what the possibilities are? If you aren’t inclined (or don’t know how) to do that, you might want to re-think your choice of major. Try setting up an excel spreadsheet with the calculations embedded and then play with some possible course schedules for your remaining 3 years. Then estimate your potential grades in those classes and see what could happen. Also, unless the reason for your low grade is isolated to your particular freshman year experience, you may find yourself overwhelmed as your math courses become more challenging over time.</p>
<p>Assuming no +/- weighting, you need 1.08 credits with As (4 point grades) for every credit you have so far, plus an additional credit graded A for every credit graded B you get after this point, plus an additional 3 credits graded A for every credit graded C you get after this point.</p>
<p>So if x = the number of credits you’ve taken so far, b = the number of credits you anticipate getting a B in, and c = the number of credits you anticipate getting a C in, and a= the number of credits you need to get an A:</p>
<p>a = 1.08x + b + 3c</p>
<p>To double-check,</p>
<p>3.5 = (2.96x + 4a + 3b + 2c) / (x + a + b + c)</p>
<p>(With so much information missing, algebra gets you a useful formula. Given an actual transcript, I agree that Excel will make it easier to play around with possibilities.)</p>
<p>It also depends on whether retaking those 2 classes will replace your grades from the first round, or if they are averaged at your institution. </p>
<p>Why do you want to be a math major? If you are already struggling and have no good reasons for it, you may want to reconsider your strengths and interests. Otherwise, retake the courses, put your best efforts in, and see how you do the second time around. Then, if you continue with math, work out what you’d need to do to get that goal GPA as others suggested. </p>
<p>Sometimes the first semester/year is an adjustment period, and you may find you do much better as you fall into the college routine.</p>
<p>If you love math then keep plugging along. You won’t be the first person to retake Calc2 and you certainly won’t be the last.</p>
<p>If you love math, I think you should go as far as you possibly can. You may find that you like proofs. I got a C in Calc II and a C in Differential Equations (but I wasn’t really trying, although I’m still not really). At some point you need to perform. I may not be studying much, but I am intensely paying attention in class. I’m not worrying about a 3.5 GPA, I don’t think you should really either unless your goal is grad school at a top college. I got an A in Calculus III and then A in upper-divison Differential Equations and am getting an A in Partial Differential Equations. So my previous performance is not really reflective of my abilities now. I use Calculus II material all the time. Plus, the material isn’t boring anymore.</p>
<p>You should know that getting a bad grade is not uncommon. I used to think that all my peers were just acing all their tests when I came here as a math major. That is very far from the truth. Some of my classes the average was 40% on some tests, no curve. I learned that it is very common for people to fail classes as math majors and try again later on (they try much harder the next time). Plenty of people have to take Real Analysis or Abstract Algebra for a second time and Calculus II will seem like a joke compared to those classes.</p>
<p>If you retake Calc 2, does your school essentially drop the first or lower grade? That would make a huge difference to your GPA, especially if you got an A! You could also retake the other class, if you wanted/finances permitting.</p>
<p>Any chance you could take macro or Calc in the summer to lighten the load this fall?</p>
<p>I’ve been there! I had a 2.8 GPA freshman year and a 3.5 by the end of sophomore year, without straight A’s. I was sort of lucky in that only the second semester of my freshman year counted for GPA, and lucky that my school rounds to one digit. (Otherwise the jump from 2.8 to 3.5 isn’t mathematically possible in that amount of time, though one could get a 3.4.) A lot of my friends started out with GPAs that low too, since a 2.8 or a 2.9 is the average freshman year GPA at my school, and many have 3.4s as juniors, and are likely to have 3.5s by graduation. (FYI, the avg upperclassman GPA at my school is a 3.1, so people usually improve from freshman year.)</p>
<p>If math is what interests you, then you’ll probably be able to put the work in to steadily bring it up. I think the most important thing for you to do in the next term is (re)establish your study skills, since you may have lost track of those during the transition from HS to college. After that, it’s just keeping to the regimen that you’ve made for yourself. Plan your courses out well to make sure you don’t end up with any semesters that are too heavy, but don’t miss out on interesting classes just because you won’t ace them. </p>
<p>Come up with a four year plan along with the excel spreadsheet. Put in the grades you can expect from the plan you’ll have and see how things might work out. If anything doesn’t go according to plan, don’t stress yourself out over it. I spent this past spring semester driving myself crazy over an unexpected B+ in the fall. It was not a worthy use of my time, to say the least.</p>
<p>Sure, a 2.8 isn;t the best thing to start out with, but an upward curve will look great.</p>
<p>Of course it’s possible! Study a lot, take easier courses, work hard, and… voila!</p>
<p>No matter how much you love math, if you do not have the intrinsic math sense to solve this 8th grade basic algebra problem, then you should reassess whether math is the right major for you.</p>
<p>You don’t need Excel:</p>
<p>(2.96 + 3x)/4 = 3.5
2.96 + 3x = 14
3x = 11.04
x = 3.68</p>
<p>You need to average 3.68 during the next three years to graduate with a 3.5 over all. In practical terms, that means that provided you earn only A’s and B’s from now on, you need to earn ~70% A’s and ~30% B’s.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m really starting to reconsider the math major thing and am leaning more towards economics if all goes well in macro. Thank you for all the help/reassurance though, I definitely need to buckle down and STUDY from here on out.</p>
<p>Good choice-- Economics is a very versatile major</p>
<p>In most cases - don’t retake a “C”, just move on</p>