Principal Nomination

I received a principal nom from my congresswoman to USNA and I understand what it is and what it entails. However, in my first semester of senior year two years ago, (I'm a second year applicant) I received a D in my calculus AP class. I hired a tutor and worked my butt off to get a C in second semester, but I am wondering if that D I got will haunt me and deem me scholastically unqualified and thus, make the principal nom worthless. Can someone please enlighten me?

If your GPA is otherwise good, it's probably not going to disqualify you. You probably shouldn't have signed up for a class where you had to struggle intensely to get a C though

WouldBePlebe said:

If your GPA is otherwise good, it's probably not going to disqualify you. You probably shouldn't have signed up for a class where you had to struggle intensely to get a C though

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you're tellin me... it's ok though, I learned my lesson and a whole lot of calculus that should help me out

Actually now that I'm really thinking about it, I'd have to disagree wth you. struggling for a C is going to be a way of life at the academy and I'm glad i went through all that trouble. It was a C well earned and I'm proud of it.

phil, every piece of advice that has ever been given to unsuccessful candides is to go to college and take the same courses that one would take as a Plebe. I am most positive that your success in college calculus will override your high school grades.

Mongo said:

phil, every piece of advice that has ever been given to unsuccessful candides is to go to college and take the same courses that one would take as a Plebe. I am most positive that your success in college calculus will override your high school grades.

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I agree, IF you have earned an A or B in college Calc. That will definitely override your h.s. grades in the course. However, if you didn't take college Calc or earned a C, that isn't great. Even so, I doubt it would be enough for USNA to consider you "unqualified" scholastically if your other grades, etc. are good.

Well I went to a prep school first semester where my math class was more of an sat prep course, so I haven't had a chance to take calc in college yet. However I am taking it second semester at a real college. I think my math skills have improved so much since going to my prep school and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle calc this time around than when I was in high school. Thanks everybody for the responses.

Are you a sponsored prep? If so, I would think it likely the academy has gotten past your low grade in high school and is just looking for some improvement in whatever math you took.

"However, if you didn't take college Calc or earned a C, that isn't great. "

Curious does USNA consider the school attended and the grade or only the grade. From my own experience with DS and DD who attend different schools, there are considerable differences in class requirements, difficulty, competition and structure from college to college. DD really struggled with HS math (no AP) and she sailed thru college calculus with an A. DS, on the other hand excelled in HS Math (IB) and really worked his tail off for a B- in college. DS attends a very competitive school and without question his calculus work load and testing were completely different than DS. With no disrespect to DD, comparing mean test scores was laughable..

If USNA considers grades only, DD is much better calc student than DS, which is completely inaccurate.

Brookhaus said:

Are you a sponsored prep? If so, I would think it likely the academy has gotten past your low grade in high school and is just looking for some improvement in whatever math you took.

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No I'm not sponsored I paid my way through. But USNA waitlisted me last year after knowing about my D so that leads me to believe they have already considered it. I ultimately just want to know if that one D will prevent me from being 3'qd.