I got a d+ in my chem class, am I eternally screwed?

[ja sam glup]

I'm a freshman currently, and I just blatantly overestimated the difficulty of this class, and I didn't really treat it seriously. The teacher put intentionally tricky questions on the exams and I ended up failing them, and I'm feeling pretty bad about the whole situation.

I intend to go into EE, so I actually have the chem credit I need from high school for this, but nevertheless a D+ still looks horrible on the transcript. My cumulative first semester gpa is a 3.33 right now, and I did get an A in calc 3 as well as hnrs phys1 with lab.

My question is, should I retake the class? If I get a 4.0 for the spring semester, and get A's in differential equations and physics 2 + lab, will that make up for it? To note, I just really dislike chemistry (it seems like mostly memmorization to me, but that may just be because I didn't put in the effort I really should have for the class) and so I only really want to retake it if absolutely necessary. My university's policy allows for the grade that I earn the second time taking it to be placed next to the older one on the transcript. The older grade can not be erased.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[fss]

As long as D+s don't become a habit it should be fine. Can you re-take the class any time? If you get one retake for your 4 years I'd probably save it for something that mattered a little more.

 

[Leptos]

You can never be "eternally screwed", regardless of what happens. If it could be any other way, it would be, and as such, what has happened, has occurred in what's probably the only way possible for it to happen.

If you're someone getting A's in courses more difficult than the chem class(such as in calc 3), I really doubt you'll run into any serious issues in the future so just keep your chin up: retake the class, and do as well as you can in your other classes. Graduate schools probably wouldn't care if you get a D in some chemistry course you took freshman year if you do well in your upper division courses(which are generally weighed much more heavily when admissions are considered).

 

[sweetpotato]

I don't think it's necessary to retake it because 1) chem isn't your major 2) freshman year grades are usually considered less important than junior/senior year grades by grad schools and potential employers 3) you've gotten good grades in much harder classes like diff eqs and physics 2. 4) Re-taking a class can really screw up your class schedule.

Also, you sound like you really hate chem, so if you did retake it, are you sure you would get a good grade the 2nd time around? If you re-took it and got, say, a C, that wouldn't really work in your favor. Only consider re-taking it if you are *absolutely sure* that you could get an A or B in it.