Senior Schedule

NamD

NamD

Candidate
5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2010
Messages
249
Hello community,
We are now beginning to pick our courses for Senior year and I am starting to get worried about my decisions. Its due sunday night for us.
Here is what I had in mind. Please tell me your honest opinion.
GPA- 3.2
Current classes:
AP US History
AP English Language
Chemistry
Pre-Calculus
NJROTC
Weight Training

Potential senior year courses:
AP Government
AP Literature
Statistics (AP?) or Calculus (AP?)
Physics (AP?)
NJROTC
Japanese 2 or another graduating required class (NW studies, Computer tech, etc).

Please let me know if what I have and want is deemed competitive or good enough for the Academies.
Thank you!
 
Calculus is probably harder than Stat but definitely looks better as you have to take it at USMA. My school only offers AP Calc AB or BC but my guess if you have either regular or AP, either one will do
 
Yep! our school offers AP Calculus AB and BC but since i am not exactly good at math in general, I was hoping to take just regular Calculus.
Would the amount of AP that I plan on taking (just two) be alright for the Academies or would I need more to impress them?
honestly, I want to raise my GPA (and therefore my class rank) up completely by spring of my senior year (around 3.4-3.5) and i am taking pre-caution about the amount of rigor that I might be taking on. Mind you, I am also the captain of the Track & Field team and the Swim Team, so i need some time on my hands as well.
Hope to hear more responses! Thanks so much!
 
I would recommend taking AP Physics. My cadet took AP Stats and AP Calc and has done well in math at WP.

NamD said:
honestly, I want to raise my GPA (and therefore my class rank) up completely by spring of my senior year (around 3.4-3.5) and i am taking pre-caution about the amount of rigor that I might be taking on. Mind you, I am also the captain of the Track & Field team and the Swim Team, so i need some time on my hands as well.
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(Bold is my emphasis.)

Just a reminder and my personal opinion....at WP you will have an enormous courseload of classes, plebe duties, intramurals, and many other demands on your time and energy and you have to make it all work. Might be helpful to simulate that plebe year by learning how to juggle everything effectively without the luxury of free time. YMMV.
 
NamD said:
Yep! our school offers AP Calculus AB and BC but since i am not exactly good at math in general, I was hoping to take just regular Calculus.
Would the amount of AP that I plan on taking (just two) be alright for the Academies or would I need more to impress them?
honestly, I want to raise my GPA (and therefore my class rank) up completely by spring of my senior year (around 3.4-3.5) and i am taking pre-caution about the amount of rigor that I might be taking on. Mind you, I am also the captain of the Track & Field team and the Swim Team, so i need some time on my hands as well.
Hope to hear more responses! Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

You aren't going to raise your GPA all that much by senior year classes. Mine went up by like .5 with four A's and two B's. I am currently in two APs and I got accepted so I guess so. Total, I will have taken five, plus two honors classes
 
Take the hardest classes that you can make an 'A' or 'B' in.

BTW - you do take Stats at WP. It is a killer too. Apparently, they have upped the difficulty level of that class this year.
 
Thanks for the input guys!
Heres what Ive decided so far:
Physics
Calculus
AP Government
AP Literature
Japanese 2 (question below..)
NJROTC

For Japanese 2, does USMA require a 2 year language course from high school? I can currently speak fluent korean. Will that affect my academic course for USMA at all? Will i be excused from taking another year of a foreign language if i can already speak one?
I am worried because I still have to take some courses (art, social studies, etc) in order for me to graduate since I moved to this area in 8th grade.
Hope to hear more from you guys!
Thank you!
 
I dont mean to sound impatient but I feel very worried right now. I have to submit my senior schedule by midnight today...
Ive come up with another decision:
AP statistics (does USMA prefer calc over statistics?)
AP Government & Politics
British Literature (AP? probably not)
NJROTC
Physics
Japanese 2

I realize that they recommend at least 2 years of a foreign language, so I'll just take another year of Japanese ( 2 years total) and hope that it works out. I understand that only I know who I am and what I am good at at school..but I would appreciate any words of advice or pressure from you folks :)
Please help me!
Thank you very much.
Dave
 
Dont take a class to get into a college - be it USMA,USNA,USAFA, Tufts, Princeton or any other school. Take classes that will challenge you to learn more and work harder, in all different subject areas. Make sure you take classes that you will enjoy to some extent, too.
 
JMO - I would reconsider taking Calculus instead of Statistics.
You will take Calculus your Plebe year and maybe 1st semester of Yuk year (2 semesters). Then Stats.
I would want a good foundation in Calculus going in.
That is not my suggestion from a FFR point of view, just a parent's opinion based on my Yuks experience.
Maybe a cadet will chime in and give their opinion.
 
jasondavid92 said:
Calculus is probably harder than Stat but definitely looks better as you have to take it at USMA. My school only offers AP Calc AB or BC but my guess if you have either regular or AP, either one will do
Click to expand...

Can't really do statistics without calculus -- impossible to compute the mean of a continuous probability distribution without integration. :thumb:
 
DHinNH said:
Can't really do statistics without calculus -- impossible to compute the mean of a continuous probability distribution without integration. :thumb:
Click to expand...

Pretty much everyone in AP Stat didn't do AP Calc because they didn't want to. Then there are those who did AP Calc in 11th grade and then take AP Stat in 12th grade
 
Hey all!
thanks for the responses! they've helped alot.
I just submitted my finalized schedule yesterday but i still have a few questions:
1) if i speak fluent korean at home, will USMA take that into consideration and excuse me from taking 2 recommended years of a foreign language at school?
2) if i do have to take a foreign language, will it be O.K. for me to take it during the summer at a local community college as college credit? (3 months= 1 quarter= 1 years worth of high school credit)
3) heres my finalized schedule, just for opinions:
Calculus
AP Literature
AP government and politics
Physics
Japanese 2 (?)
NJROTC

thank you!
also, on a side note, when should i begin my NCAA clearinghouse application? I am interested in swimming for the Academy...
 
Dang my senior schedule is
IB English HL
IB Spanish year 2
IB theatre arts HL
IB 20th century topics HL
Theory of Knowledge
IB physics
Weight lifting
IB math studies

I'm still wondering why you only have 6 classes. Do you have all 6 classes in one day or three a semester?
 
cds4wp15 said:
I'm still wondering why you only have 6 classes. Do you have all 6 classes in one day or three a semester?
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Block Schedule= 3 classes a semester, and are a full years worth of that subject. Each class meets for 1.5 hours a day. We do this at my school. Its not that uncommon. In my mind its better than 40min classes.
 
yep. its 6 classes everyday for 2 semesters. my classes are approximately 55 min long.
I am very envious of all the IB classes that you're taking..i wish i was that smart :/ hahah
anyone have any answers for my questions?
 
I thought I might ask for some advice on my senior schedule too:

Current GPA: 4.37
Class rank: 3 of 422
Previous APs: World History, US History, Language+Comp, and Chemistry

Proposed Senior Schedule

AP Physics
AP Literature
AP Gov/AP Econ
AP Calc AB (or should I do BC? Does it really matter which you do to admissions?)
Campus Ministry Band (I have to take a religion course every semester; this band course fulfills those credits)
Guitar (or should I take AP Art History? I need an art credit, so I have to choose between the two. I don't think I'll ever have to take art history at USMA, but is it worth the AP?)
 
BC BC BC BC BC BC. I could have taken AB, but in all honesty. I'm really not that kick butt at calc, and I still feel like I understand calc so much more than if I had taken AB. And yes, admissions weighs this heavily.
 
Only certain AP classes are useful http://www.dean.usma.edu/AP/ I'd say your choices are either to do whatever you think you will enjoy more, or take a AP class that sounds absolutely terrible :eek:. Great Credentials btw :thumb:
 
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