Can i come back from a bad semester?

So last semester i did really bad. i had a 3.28 gpa. i know thats alright for some of you, but i want to get into cornell or georgetown which means this is bad. if i get a 4.0 next semester, and then tell colleges i had an issue (i did) and bounced back from it, will it still hurt my chances. someone i know told me it will help my chances because colleges see that i can handle myself when something goes wrong, but i think hes an idiot. i want a second opinion