Thank you for your help!
He has already taken both of the Freshman Composition courses our state university system requires (the second in an honors section) and an honors speech course.
Is the issue having a schedule just like the 4th class or showing that he can do well with the classes they are taking that he hasn't had yet while doing well on the PFE and in ROTC?
Assuming he could get a 220 on the PFE by fall and is involved in ROTC, would having a part time job or taking PE courses and/or intramural sports carry more weight in the leadership realm? He is interested in intramural sports, but we are considering both the family budget and the leadership issues.
Having "been there, done that" with DS, here are my thoughts. They may or may not be typical....just wanted to show you there is more than one way to skin cat.
Son applied out of high school, was waitlisted. He waited, and waited, and, well..you get the picture. June 6th he was told that there would be no last minute spot for him. For him, it was CGA or nothing....he did not want to go to the state u, or any other u, so he decided he would go a non-traditional route (from what we've seen here, it was highly non-traditional....) and go to the local JC, and mimic a 4/c courseload to the best of his ability. He also took up a new sport, one of the relatively minor ones that many start later in their young lives, did really well, and reapplied. He worked, kept bettering his EC resume, and even retook the SAT and improved by a hundred points. Yup...as a college freshman. He did everything within his power to show CGA that he was right for them. He did well in his classes (not perfect, but a 3.6, I believe) and was offered an appointment in March of his freshman year.
The rationale with the JC was two fold....first, it was inexpensive, close to home, and had a good reputation for transferring to good universities. Given that the units would NOT transfer at all to CGA, these reasons made sense to us. And secondly, if he didn't get in the second time around, his plan was to continue on, and transfer after his sophomore year. The team that he was on had a lot of success helping their players find "homes" at some pretty great universities on the West Coast.
I think the advice you've been given is good...it's not the school...it's the courses and the effort made by your son that matters far more. As for sports vs. leadership....our son's team fees cost us about 200.00 for the year. Hopefully the same is true for your son. Keep up the leadership as well...a balance of things that he is passionate about will "read well" on his reapplication.
Good luck!