Thanks for the feedback. I had an upward trend (2.8 last semester, 3.3 this semester) this past year. The only reason why my GPA was really low during my first semester was cause of one class. If I had not taken it, my current GPA would be at 3.2+ or so. Should I even mention this in my recs at all? I don't want to ask for sympathy, I just want to explain my situation in case it gets misunderstood.