Senior Year Classes

[Dolphins2012]

My DS' classes senior year are a bit fluffy. This is in part due to his accelerated curriculum early on, but I'd like an opinion as to whether it will hurt him.

My DS is signed up for:
AP Economics
AP Psychology
AP Music Theory
Honors Journalism
Honors Creative Writing
Honors Video Editing

However, he's got a 3.8 having already taken amongst, other things:
Honors Biology
2 yrs Physics (H and AP)
2 yrs Chemistry (H and AP)
H Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry,Pre-Calculus and Calculus
H US History and World History, AP European History and US History
3 yrs H Spanish and AP Spanish
H American Lit and British Lit, and AP English Comp
and some computer, journalism, music, general science and art classes (he was able to do all this by virtue of beginning to take high school courses in 7th grade as part of a feeder program at his magnet high school).
Can anyone gauge how much his fluffy senio courses will hurt him?
Thanks in advance!

 

[usna1985]

Well, he's definitely taken the right courses up to now. However, USNA is not going to love these classes and obviously would look more favorably on his schedule if he were taking "solid" courses, such as math, English, etc. What about a fourth year of language?

IF there is nothing left for him to take at his h.s. (IOW, he's taken all of the "solid" courses it offers and there is is no English, history, math or science course left at or near his h.s. level, could he do any work at a local CC? He could, for example, take the next level of Calculus, a college humanities course, college level chem or physics . . . That would be preferable on many levels.

If that's truly not an option and he's exhausted his h.s. courses, I would make sure he makes this clear to his BGO AND that his English and math teachers comment on this in their recommendations.

 

[osdad]

The list of course he's already taken is impressive. Though there's some things cause me to wonder how the NA will see it:

Classes taken as a 7th grader - regardless of their level may not be viewed highly. (Will these even show up on his HS transcript?)

With all of that advancement, his highest level of math is regular Calc? Not honors, or AB or BC as some will have taken.

Has he done any theater? If you look at the class of 2014 profile ( HERE ) you'll see that (for whatever reason) over ¾ were in some performing arts/drama, public speaking or debate.

 

[Dolphins2012]

Thank you, Osdad and USNA1985. First, to clarify: I'm pretty certain that Honors Creative Writing is considered a bona fide English course, and he did take 4 years of Spanish (Honors 1-3, and then AP). Second, and I see why it wasn't clear: every course I list is either Honors or AP, e.g. "H Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Pre-Calc and Calc" were all Honors. And I didn't want to digress into his extracurriculars (in reference to the comments about theater), which based on this site, his BGO and others, are very competitive.

I have the same questions about his 7/8 grade years being on his transcript and have been battling with the school this summer to get a copy which I've been promised since May.

I know there are higher level courses to take, e.g. AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Calculus, and probably others, including opportunities to take "college level" courses (although I believe the AP Econ and AP Psych are each intended to be that sort of class). I will find out about the 7/8 grade courses to ensure USNA knows he took biology, algebra, geometry, etc. I just hope that instead of being viewed as outright as fluff, they'll see his whole record and see the senior classes as contributing to his well roundedness intellectually. His application is 100% done, so he really doesn't have the opportunity to add anything unless he contacts his RAD directly to supplement it.

 

[patesq]

Our son took Spanish 1 & 2, Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2/Trig (all considered high school courses here) before entering high school and they show up on his transcript. Not that it's the same everywhere but it's not unheard of.

 

[2014sponsor]

I have no insights into how it could impact USNA perceptions, but if your son really wants to go into an engineering or math field, he might rethink taking that long away from serious math or equation based courses. Regardless of where he goes, it's a long way to be away from that type of learning and application.

AP Econ will have formulas to apply and scenarios to disect, but they're relatively simple ones at that level. There's probably not going to be much of an application of statistics at that level either. (Upper level econ college classes on the other hand are extremely math based and challenging.)

Someone else might be able to comment on the impact the schedule would have on plebe placement and validation exams if he is accepted.

Just a different perspective on why he might want to revisit his schedule before senior year starts.