Bad first year, can I recover?

[Iced Tea]

Hello, as you can see from the title my first year of undergrad didn't go as well as I expected it to. Here are the following grades I received.

Summer 2014:
Gen. Ed. - A
Gen. Ed. - A

Fall 2014:
Chem 1a- C
Biology 1- B
Algebra- A
Gen. Ed. - A

Spring 2015:
Chem 1b- C
Biology 2- B
Trig. - B
Gen. Ed. -A

Summer 2015:
Chem. 2 - C
Gen. Ed. - A

So right now my overall GPA is around a 3.2 I believe and sGPA is well below a 3.0... I think 2.7-ish. I am disappointed in myself, the first year of college is suppose to be easy and the beginning science classes were suppose to be the safety net in case of bad grades in the upper level courses. However I already screwed up and I'm afraid I won't be able to fix it. I'm not even exactly sure what I'm trying to gain from posting this, encouragement or perhaps a reality check? Either way please post your opinions.

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[Bucks783]

The first year of college is not supposed to be easy. It is an adjustment. You just need to sit down and take a second to find the drive and determination within yourself. If you truly want to be a dentist, then you will focus on getting your grades up and not allow anything to distract you. You can do it, you just have to believe you can. You still have plenty of time to raise your GPA and crush the DAT. There are plenty of Bio/Chem/Physics courses you can take for that. Showing improvement goes a long way and shows maturity you will be able to discuss in interviews. Don't give up hope... it will only make things worse!

 

[dent--girl7]

I agree with Bucks783. Keep your head up, you have a lot of school left. I started off first semester of college getting a GPA of 2.75 which was horribly disappointing. But with hard work and determination I graduated Cum Laude with a 3.7. Use these first year grades as motivation to focus and study hard and you can get those GPAs up!

 

[azxken]

You are fine. My first year ended with 2.1. I managed to bring it up to 3.4 in the next 4 years lol. Just make sure to show an upward trend.

 

[Iced Tea]

Thank you guys for the encouragements, truly. I guess I am just down because I was really hoping to get an A in Chem 2 this summer so that it'll somewhat balance out my C but I didn't study hard enough. I'm still going to dwell on this a bit more... the failure is still fresh in my mind as I just took the final this morning... but thank you for taking time out of your day to encourage me

 

[Streax1]

I got Cs in gen chem and still pulled off a 3.16 sgpa and I already got my first interview. Just pull off a strong upward trend and I think you'll be okay.

 

[kpat1990]

The simple fact that you reached out on SDN shows that you are willing to do better. I believe you can. I was in the same situation during my first year. Although I don't have a great upward trend, I did improve my GPA. Another thing to do is contact dental school admission counselors and keep talking to them through out your education. Tell them about your grades and show them that you can improve. They like to see that you can work hard.

 

[ajj70]

Not sure where you heard college was supposed to be easy, especially first year. Most colleges have their general science classes as weed-out classes and often are more difficult than most upper level classes. Start this year right, use the tutoring offered by your school, use the writing labs or other resources, get your study habits honed in and work harder. Getting all A's or mostly A's from here on out will pretty much negate your bad first year.

 

[Pro-Dentite19]

lots of people do poorly their first year. you learned your lesson so now work harder and get good grades the rest of the way and you will have nothing to worry about.

 

[Pearl E. White]

Many people are in your position, OP. I finished my first year with a 2.2. Have made straight As since. I'm at a 3.2 right now with more room to keep getting better. I just know what I need to do to be a competitive applicant. Keep that in your mind, buckle down, and do it!