Senior year courseload

d.mcknight

5-Year Member
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Jul 22, 2010
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So, at my high school, they are redoing they way they schedule all the classes or something. And long story short, my class choices sort of got screwed over...


Okay first, here are the classes I am for sure taking...
AFJROTC
AP Gov/Econ (each a semester course)
AP Calculus
AP Literature


Now originally I was going to take AP Computer Science. But because of the conflicts, I cannot. I've looked over the course catalog and here are the options I came up with....

AP Biology (I'm not really interested in biology and I'm not sure how that would help with chem and physics the first year at the academy)
Geography 2/Cultural Anthropology (each a semester course)
AP World History (I've already taken regular world and AP US. Another option is AP World History but I've heard it is a lot of busy work.)
AP Statistics (I don't know if my counselor would allow this in addition to AP Calc, especially with the numbers, however I don't think I'd have a problem completing the work for both classes.)

If anyone could give me some opinions or insight it would be greatly appreciated. I'll also post this in the USAFA thread to see if there are any differences.
 
Does you school offer, or have you taken any Physics courses?
 
Does you school offer, or have you taken any Physics courses?

Yes. I've taken the college prep courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. They aren't offering AP Chemistry or AP Physics this year.
 
I might lean toward the world history over gov't IF it interests you. It would likely be more helpful at USNA. However, that alone is not reason to take it.

While I personally would think Stats would be great for USNA, they said a summer ago that they (USNA) are not interested in Stats and don't consider it a math course. However, IF it interests you and if you think you'll major in math or engineering in college (USNA or elsewhere), it still may be worth doing for future benefit as you'll likely see it again along the way.
 
Do you already have 3 years of a foreign anguage?
 
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If you did well enough on your APUSH exam you can actually validate one of your youngster history courses with a high score on world history.
 
I would suggest you also go to the USNA website and check out the validation requirements as that may influence some of your decisions when your are wavering between a couple of choices. My son took AP US History and AP European History. They did not offer AP World History.

At USNA you can validate a history course if you get a combined 9 on AP US and AP World. My son studied on his own and took the AP World History exam without taking the class. He pulled out a 4 to go with the 5 he already got on AP US and validated a history class.

Just something else to consider.
 
I talked to my counselor some more. The only two options I have is AP Bio and the Geo/Anthro combo.
 
I have two years. But the last class I took was freshman year. I don't know if I'd be able to take up Spanish 3 just like that.

Even though the NA advises "at least" two years, I would strongly advise taking that next year of language. Most of your fellow applicants will have taken 3 or 4 - plus, your plan B school will most likely require 3.
 
Even though the NA advises "at least" two years, I would strongly advise taking that next year of language. Most of your fellow applicants will have taken 3 or 4 - plus, your plan B school will most likely require 3.

It sounds like the OP's spanish is pretty rusty, which could make it extremely difficult to get an A. It seems like the effort necessary to get back up to speed in spanish would be better spent doing something else. And, for at it's worth, I only took two years of spanish and I have an LOA to USMA.
 
What USNA wants to see senior year is students challenging themselves . . . and doing well. Advanced language demonstrates you have stuck with a course for 3-4 yrs. You won't need it for USNA purposes, although it could come in handy.

If for various reasons, you don't want to or can't take advanced language, there are plenty of other challenging courses. Once you have Calc, Chem or Physics, English, and history -- IOW 4 strong courses, USNA won't care that much about course #5. They have said this at BGO training. You could even take music theory or art history, if those interest you. Applying to USNA does not mean that you can never take a course that isn't math, science, history or English -- nothing wrong with the occasional other or even "fluff" course. That really is ok. They key is to have that solid "core" throughout your four years and do well in it.

What can hurt is taking English, sociology, zoology, statistics and Intro to Chinese. Yes, there is some science and some English and some language -- but the overall impression is that of a "weak" courseload -- in the eyes of USNA at least. Compare that to AP English, Calculus, Physics, AP World History and psychology. In this latter scenario, adding the psych course really won't hurt you.
 
All I'm saying is: lots of very qualified SA candidates end up at Plan B. Not sure where you're thinking about for your Plan B but most require 3 years of language. Investigate before deciding. Information is power.
 
With a schedule of AP's, I really don't think that one more year of spanish at a civilian school or USNA is going to make the difference between an acceptance or rejection. There are just way to many factors that go into an acceptance. Of course you can say if there were two candidate exactly alike then the one with the extra year of spanish will get in. But guess what? No two candidates are ever alike.

With that aside. Refer to your choice civilain school's websites for requirements with languages. Atleast with the civilian schools I'm applying to, not one requires more than 2 years of a language. Is it better to have 3 or 4? Maybe, but if your schedule compensates for it then it's not going to be a deciding factor IMO. If you took basket weaving instead of spanish 3 then that's another story. But that's not the case.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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