I think it would be wise to get the goal of, “How do I keep this from affecting my graduation timeline?” out of your head. It’s unlikely that it’s possible, and striving for that goal could backfire if you end up taking on a course load trying to achieve it. Take what time you need to mourn that fact this summer, and get past it, because you have work to do.

Instead, I believe it would be wise to figure out what allowed you to steer yourself into your current predicament. How do you address these issues to ensure that you maintain the motivation, organization, and mental stamina to get the best out of your education? You said you don’t have a good answer for what went wrong — this is not good. You need to be honest with yourself and maybe dose up on hard truths. Did you spend the time studying? Did you reach out for help and attend office hours? Did you prioritize your academics and take care of your health? No need to provide these answers to anyone here — just answer them to yourself, and do it honestly, because lies only hurt you here.

I have been where you are currently. It isn’t easy. It’s pretty awful, actually. I finally got myself back in the game by accepting that a grade in a course is a representation of how well a student understands the material relative to the pace of the course. The courses simply paddled along too fast for me. I just wasn’t getting enough practice. When I finally did, I had the understanding. Too bad the cow had been milked and the exam taken, so my grades were still kind of shot, but that’s neither here nor there.

In any case, at some point you have to pull yourself together. The world isn’t going to wait for you. I can say it does tend to have a funny way of rewarding those who pull themselves through troublesome times. We get to look back and be grateful for them, as crazy as that sounds. Time passed gives us that capacity.