May potentially fail a class....

operabooth

5-Year Member
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Jun 10, 2011
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I end school pretty late compared to most other kids in the US. June 28th is the last day of school for me. Anyway, I was wondering, if I failed a class, even if I still graduated, would they rescind appointment, especially this late in the year? But how would that work if they receive my final transcripts like a month into Plebe Summer?
 
Traditionally final SR grades are done prior to graduation and the school sends them off very quickly. Colleges and SA's notify the counselors regarding when the transcript must be submitted by, thus, the GC's will have them there by that time. I highly doubt that it will not arrive until a month in as a plebe. Actually, at our DD's school they not only receive their diploma that day, but also their report card.

Think about it you don't take tests that final week, instead you are doing all of those fun things, like picnics and practices. The teachers are submitting your grades while you are doing those fun things.

Yes, they can rescind. ALL SA's have that option and state the appointment is conditional, and one of the conditions is grades. Failing a course can jeopardize your appointment. Believe it or not I know of one case this yr that a student with a principal nom had their appointment to the AFA rescinded due to grades. He was a ROTC college student and failed 1 course.
Failing and a D are 2 different things. Was this a class that would be considered by the USNA as a requirement? For example, USNA requires 4 yrs of Math, but maybe the HS only requires 3 to graduate. You can graduate, but now you don't have the required 4 yrs of Math for the USNA which will jeopardize your appointment.


Good luck. My suggestion would be to contact your BGO and discuss how or if this will impact your appointment.

It is rare that they rescind appointments. Are you positive you are going to fail? At this point you still have about 2 weeks to pull up those grades. Go to the teacher, explain your predicament and see if they will give you extra credit so you can pull it up to a passing grade.
 
I would suggest talking to your teacher NOW. Tell him/her why your grades slipped and how much you have riding on passing the class. Ask for extra credit work. Be humble and take responsibility. You might be pleasantly surprised, but teachers are human too, and from what I've heard at my sons' highly competitive HS, they will try and work with you provided you made an effort during the year and didn't completely slack off for no reason (senioritis).

It can't hurt to try. Good luck!
 
I would suggest talking to your teacher NOW. Tell him/her why your grades slipped and how much you have riding on passing the class. Ask for extra credit work. Be humble and take responsibility. You might be pleasantly surprised, but teachers are human too, and from what I've heard at my sons' highly competitive HS, they will try and work with you provided you made an effort during the year and didn't completely slack off for no reason (senioritis).

It can't hurt to try. Good luck!

I managed to pull a C in BC cal to a B by asking for an extra project.
good luck
 
What about receiving a 79 for the year in AP calc bc? all other grades are A's and B's
 
A C won't jeopardize your appointment. However, D's are the dangerzone where things get very questionable. Several C's on the other hand could be a problem because the SA may view it as you're slacking off too much at the end of the year. But a single C (a C+ at that) in an AP class won't take away your appointment.
 
Traditionally final SR grades are done prior to graduation and the school sends them off very quickly. Colleges and SA's notify the counselors regarding when the transcript must be submitted by, thus, the GC's will have them there by that time. I highly doubt that it will not arrive until a month in as a plebe. Actually, at our DD's school they not only receive their diploma that day, but also their report card.

Think about it you don't take tests that final week, instead you are doing all of those fun things, like picnics and practices. The teachers are submitting your grades while you are doing those fun things.

Yes, they can rescind. ALL SA's have that option and state the appointment is conditional, and one of the conditions is grades. Failing a course can jeopardize your appointment. Believe it or not I know of one case this yr that a student with a principal nom had their appointment to the AFA rescinded due to grades. He was a ROTC college student and failed 1 course.
Failing and a D are 2 different things. Was this a class that would be considered by the USNA as a requirement? For example, USNA requires 4 yrs of Math, but maybe the HS only requires 3 to graduate. You can graduate, but now you don't have the required 4 yrs of Math for the USNA which will jeopardize your appointment.


Good luck. My suggestion would be to contact your BGO and discuss how or if this will impact your appointment.

It is rare that they rescind appointments. Are you positive you are going to fail? At this point you still have about 2 weeks to pull up those grades. Go to the teacher, explain your predicament and see if they will give you extra credit so you can pull it up to a passing grade.


I just took the final exam for the course yesterday, and tried talking to the teacher, she said she would not consider giving me extra credit assignments because its not fair to the other students. And to be technical, although this is my 4th year of math in high school, i took a high school level math course in middle school and passed the exam for it as well. All i can do now is pray that i did decently enough on the final, or that USNA will look at my 8th grade amth course and realize its a high school course.


But i want to be prepared for the other, more scary possibility.
If i wanted to reapply, what should i do? I have turned down every other school, so i would probably have to go to a community college and then reapply again, correct?
 
I just took the final exam for the course yesterday, and tried talking to the teacher, she said she would not consider giving me extra credit assignments because its not fair to the other students. And to be technical, although this is my 4th year of math in high school, i took a high school level math course in middle school and passed the exam for it as well. All i can do now is pray that i did decently enough on the final, or that USNA will look at my 8th grade amth course and realize its a high school course.


But i want to be prepared for the other, more scary possibility.
If i wanted to reapply, what should i do? I have turned down every other school, so i would probably have to go to a community college and then reapply again, correct?

Operabooth, you have my sincere sympathy for what must be a very stressful situation. I am a current teacher who acts as a liaison and resource for students at my school who apply to the Service Academies. I echo Pima's suggestion to talk to your BGO.

I would also suggest very respectfully continuing lines of communication at your school. For example, you might ask to meet with the teacher and privately convey to her that your appointment is at risk if you fail and ask for any discretion she might be able to exercise in calculating your final grade. I would also -- again, respectfully -- consider getting additional personnel at the school involved, such as a guidance counselor or principal. They might be able to convince your teacher to exercise her discretion to give you a passing grade -- most schools have some desire not to have a student lose a good college opportunity. Lastly, you might inquire whether your school has a policy, as some do, of allowing a re-exam if a failing grade on a final exam would lead to a failure for the year.

The very best of luck to you -- I'll keep my fingers crossed.
 
I think USNA1985 might be able to chime in on probabilities. However, I think it is unlikely, given that you "graduate" two days before I-Day; it would take USNA a few weeks for them to process your transcript (from the school mailing it until it is opened with all of the mail that USNA gets). It isn't like they would have another body to replace you with.

Based on a superficial understanding of your academic problem, it seemed like you waited to the last minute on a growing problem. If you do that at USNA, you will find yourself in hot water. Just realize that you need to recognize problems ahead of time (i.e. if you don't do well on quizzes/homework) before you bomb an exam (at USNA you normally only have ~3-4 exams a semester) or project. There is nothing wrong admitting you need help! Seek help when you have a gut feeling that you need it.
 
As everyone has stated contact the BGO now. You need to get in front of this. I would assume since you took your final exam this week, the transcripts will be ready for graduating SRs. by the end of next week. They can do this because there are no more grades to submit.

As for the yr you took in middle school, even though you were advanced, it doesn't count for HS credits. This is why you will see kids graduate with 4 yrs of foreign language...took 1 in middle, and that doesn't count, thus they take 2-4 in HS. It is not only the SA's system, but all colleges. Your transcript does not include 8th grade it is 9-12 and that's what they count. Sorry.

I hope the best for you.
 
As for the yr you took in middle school, even though you were advanced, it doesn't count for HS credits.

Maybe I should start another thread on this but PIMA brought up an interesting point. Our DS just finished his junior year of h.s. and plans to apply to SAs in the fall. He was accelerated in math in grade/middle school (taking Algebra II as an 8th grader), then Honors Geometry as a freshman, Honors College Algebra/Trig (pre-calc) as a sophomore; Honors Calculus as a junior (not AP). As a senior, he wants to take honors Computer Science as his math. Is this seen as 4 years of math then as far as the SAs are concerned?
 
As everyone has stated contact the BGO now. You need to get in front of this. I would assume since you took your final exam this week, the transcripts will be ready for graduating SRs. by the end of next week. They can do this because there are no more grades to submit.

As for the yr you took in middle school, even though you were advanced, it doesn't count for HS credits. This is why you will see kids graduate with 4 yrs of foreign language...took 1 in middle, and that doesn't count, thus they take 2-4 in HS. It is not only the SA's system, but all colleges. Your transcript does not include 8th grade it is 9-12 and that's what they count. Sorry.

I hope the best for you.

First of all thanks for giving me this info everyone, and this is definitely a lesson learned.

And moving on,

My school system is kind of weird then I guess, because my 8th grade math courses, spanish, mathematics, and earth science all show up on my transcript. And the transcripts won't be ready because although school school may be over, not all finals have been administered yet, and the deadline for grades from teachers is sometime next week. So any transcripts that may be sent out may be sent at earliest a couple of days before me, or (more probably) sometime in July, like it said on my school's website last year.
 
Maybe I should start another thread on this but PIMA brought up an interesting point. Our DS just finished his junior year of h.s. and plans to apply to SAs in the fall. He was accelerated in math in grade/middle school (taking Algebra II as an 8th grader), then Honors Geometry as a freshman, Honors College Algebra/Trig (pre-calc) as a sophomore; Honors Calculus as a junior (not AP). As a senior, he wants to take honors Computer Science as his math. Is this seen as 4 years of math then as far as the SAs are concerned?

I suggest that your son (not you) contact his BGO and/or the USNA CGO (admissions) to ask this.

(IMO) If your DS's choice for the fall would be to take AP calculus vs computer science, AP calculus would probably be better. The USNA curriculum is based heavily on calculus; taking a more advanced class during senior year would make sure that he is ready for calc at USNA. Also, unless he becomes a computer science major, he might not ever take a comp sci class at USNA.
 
craeder,

I'd agree with 2012mom that AP Calculus is a better choice.
A computer science course, if feasible, would be a great elective or additional course (if needed to complete the curriculum).

USNA is starting to require some type of cyber-based courses (beginning with plebe classes this upcoming semester), having the computer science course background, probably would only help a little, though.
 
I suggest that your son (not you) contact his BGO and/or the USNA CGO (admissions) to ask this.

(IMO) If your DS's choice for the fall would be to take AP calculus vs computer science, AP calculus would probably be better. The USNA curriculum is based heavily on calculus; taking a more advanced class during senior year would make sure that he is ready for calc at USNA. Also, unless he becomes a computer science major, he might not ever take a comp sci class at USNA.

Thanks 2012mom. DS is en route to USNA today for two weeks (swim camp plus session 3 of NASS) but will definitely reach out to BGO and/or CGO upon his return.
 
As for the yr you took in middle school, even though you were advanced, it doesn't count for HS credits. This is why you will see kids graduate with 4 yrs of foreign language...took 1 in middle, and that doesn't count, thus they take 2-4 in HS. It is not only the SA's system, but all colleges. Your transcript does not include 8th grade it is 9-12 and that's what they count. Sorry.

My DS's transcript has a section "High School Level Courses Completed Prior to 9th Grade." He has 2 math courses and 1 foreign language course in that section and all have been accepted by USMA and USNA. This enabled him to exceed the recommended number of classes in those two subject areas.
 
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