Summer School question

Tomcat87

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
13
Does anyone know where we can find out which classes are offered during the summer session (June 23- July20) ?
For example: If DS or DD failed Physics II , can it be taken during summer session ? If not, will they still go on cruise (B split) and just lag the class ?
 
I advise summer school vs. lagging. I (a B-split) have done both, I did Physics II in summer school and I have lagged several classes. Speaking from experience, summer school is waaaaaay easier than lagging. When I did SS, it was I think three weeks about 6 hrs. per day of only the one class. We were entirely left alone by the regiment (Well, there was that one day CX2 tried to get us up for inspection and got several shoes thrown at him) and were able to focus on school work. When you are lagging Physics II, you are adding another 4.5 credits (if I remember right) on top of the 18 or so you are already taking. 22 or so credits is a killer schedule and is to be avoided at all costs if possible.

I did have to sail later than I really wanted, I didn't get off my ship until the first week of Jan, and got back to school 2 or 3 days late. I was on the 1/4 system and the splits were different so summer school may have a bigger impact on sea year now than it did then.
 
Physics II is being offered for summer school. Make sure that your M/N has a ship lined up as soon as summer school ends so they don't fall too far behind in Sea Days.
 
I advise summer school vs. lagging. I (a B-split) have done both, I did Physics II in summer school and I have lagged several classes. Speaking from experience, summer school is waaaaaay easier than lagging. When I did SS, it was I think three weeks about 6 hrs. per day of only the one class. We were entirely left alone by the regiment (Well, there was that one day CX2 tried to get us up for inspection and got several shoes thrown at him) and were able to focus on school work. When you are lagging Physics II, you are adding another 4.5 credits (if I remember right) on top of the 18 or so you are already taking. 22 or so credits is a killer schedule and is to be avoided at all costs if possible.

I did have to sail later than I really wanted, I didn't get off my ship until the first week of Jan, and got back to school 2 or 3 days late. I was on the 1/4 system and the splits were different so summer school may have a bigger impact on sea year now than it did then.

Can you go into further detail of what "lagging" is please?
 
Can you go into further detail of what "lagging" is please?

Lagging is re-taking the course during the next regular term in addition to the regular course load. So on top of an already heavy load of difficult courses, the student has another 4 credit course that has already proved difficult for them.
 
Physics II is I believe 4.5 credits (the .5 because of the lab portion), so you are already at at least 18 but more likely around 20 and now you are going to add another 4.5 credits? The typical college student takes 12-15 credits, so lagging the class is basically voluntarily taking a double credit load in favor of what? More days at home during the sea year period.

My advice to ANY student ... give up the days at home and go to summer school. Why add more credits to an already heavy load if you don't have to?
 
Lagging is re-taking the course during the next regular term in addition to the regular course load. So on top of an already heavy load of difficult courses, the student has another 4 credit course that has already proved difficult for them.

Thank you. While we are on the subject. Does a USMMA Mid. have many tutoring opportunities on campus? What are some reasons that Mids. fail so often? I am a USMMA Prep for NMMI for class of 2014 and want be well knowledged of these things before heading to USMMA.
 
Thank you. While we are on the subject. Does a USMMA Mid. have many tutoring opportunities on campus? What are some reasons that Mids. fail so often? I am a USMMA Prep for NMMI for class of 2014 and want be well knowledged of these things before heading to USMMA.

My personal belief is that the biggest reason is poor time management. Either getting too wrapped up in sports, the regiment and other extra-curricular activities; or just plain not studying in favor of hanging around doing nothing.

For most, they will be on their own for the first time in their lives and while the regiment does structure your day to some degree you are by and large on your own when it comes to studying. The time is set aside for you but no one is looking over your shoulder to see whether you are reading Physics or Harry Potter. I had a classmate who had a 4.0 in HS and 1600 on his SATs, he was gone at the end of 1st quarter because all he did was play video games.

My advice to everyone is to spend plebe year with as few extra-curricular activities as possible and focus almost entirely on your grades. For the most par, absent significant behaviour issues, your grades is the only thing that is going to get you kicked out. Get that GPA as high as you can. I saw more than one time that someone had a really really bad quarter but was saved from disenrollment because they had a high cumulative GPA to fall back on.
 
Get that GPA as high as you can. I saw more than one time that someone had a really really bad quarter but was saved from disenrollment because they had a high cumulative GPA to fall back on.

Oh, reading my old transcripts are you. . . . . Second quarter of Second class year darn near did me in; as well as first quarter of First Class year. The others were tough, too; but my grades really suffered for those two quarters. Funny how I still remember that all these years later.

Hence the expression, "2.0 and go!"
 
Oh, reading my old transcripts are you. . . . . Second quarter of Second class year darn near did me in; as well as first quarter of First Class year. The others were tough, too; but my grades really suffered for those two quarters. Funny how I still remember that all these years later.

Hence the expression, "2.0 and go!"

Funny that for me plebe year was my highest GPA (over a 3.0) and it went downhill from there! What really helped me was that I had taken AP Calculus in HS and had an easy time of it at KP (I was the curve wrecker). Never came close to 3.0 again until last quarter of 1st class year so I was able to wear the Silver Star for graduation.
 
Funny that for me plebe year was my highest GPA (over a 3.0) and it went downhill from there! What really helped me was that I had taken AP Calculus in HS and had an easy time of it at KP (I was the curve wrecker). Never came close to 3.0 again until last quarter of 1st class year so I was able to wear the Silver Star for graduation.

I had the option for Calc in high school, but hat meant taking at the local community college, and that was not very local to me up in the hills outside of Sacramento. My best performance was second half of plebe year and then Third Class year. I only got two silver stars my whole time there . . . oh yeah, and a diploma and a license. . . . .
 
I only got two silver stars my whole time there . . . oh yeah, and a diploma and a license. . . . .
My best quarters were the second half of senior year. Its pretty amazing the difference 12-15 and 18-22 credits. I was in pretty close competition for Anchorman (I think three from the bottom) going into senior year and raised my GPA about .3 points that year alone.

Academic stars are nice but the diploma and the license are all that really matter. No prospective employer has ever asked me what my grades or class rank were. The only ones who ever asked needed my transcript was uncle sam and that was only because they need to see the courses taken to qualify me for a specific job series, the grades received didn't concern them (lucky for me).

My lack of scholarly standing has not stopped me from having an upwardly mobile career. As long as you have a good grasp of engineering you will be fine regardless of numbers on your transcript.
 
My best quarters were the second half of senior year. Its pretty amazing the difference 12-15 and 18-22 credits. I was in pretty close competition for Anchorman (I think three from the bottom) going into senior year and raised my GPA about .3 points that year alone.

Academic stars are nice but the diploma and the license are all that really matter. No prospective employer has ever asked me what my grades or class rank were. The only ones who ever asked needed my transcript was uncle sam and that was only because they need to see the courses taken to qualify me for a specific job series, the grades received didn't concern them (lucky for me).

My lack of scholarly standing has not stopped me from having an upwardly mobile career. As long as you have a good grasp of engineering you will be fine regardless of numbers on your transcript.


Just wondering though, wouldn't it be helpful if there was a "plus" you could include on a resume later in life, IE "graduated with a Silver Star, magna cum laude, etc>"...
 
Just wondering though, wouldn't it be helpful if there was a "plus" you could include on a resume later in life, IE "graduated with a Silver Star, magna cum laude, etc>"...

I did not graduate "with honors" ... cum laude, etc; however our son did and I can already see places where it helps and will continue to help him early in his carrer. For example, grad school applications, etc. There are places it helps to open a door, the person still has to walk through the door and prove they deserve to be wherever that door leads but I think it helps give them some opportunities that those who do not achieve that level of academics accomplishment won't even know could have been possible. Just my opinion and certainly in the long run just graduating from any SA opens lots of opportunities so it's not like you/we hven't achieved something by virtue of our Diploma, Lisence and Commission but Cum Laude; Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude are all worth working for IMO as well.
 
I did not graduate "with honors" ... cum laude, etc; however our son did and I can already see places where it helps and will continue to help him early in his carrer. For example, grad school applications, etc. There are places it helps to open a door, the person still has to walk through the door and prove they deserve to be wherever that door leads but I think it helps give them some opportunities that those who do not achieve that level of academics accomplishment won't even know could have been possible. Just my opinion and certainly in the long run just graduating from any SA opens lots of opportunities so it's not like you/we hven't achieved something by virtue of our Diploma, Lisence and Commission but Cum Laude; Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude are all worth working for IMO as well.

Yup. At least now in our career stage, how we did in college doesn't even really apply at all. In fact, I am starting with a new employer as soon as I am release from my current one and the topic never came up. . . .

To be honest, I don't know that it was ever a part of any sailing job I got either.

Sometimes it is good being an old guy. . .
 
Just wondering though, wouldn't it be helpful if there was a "plus" you could include on a resume later in life, IE "graduated with a Silver Star, magna cum laude, etc>"...
It wouldn't hurt of course and it might help some in getting that first job but beyond that it matters very little and by the time you have five years experience on your resume I would say it matters none at all.

For further educational pursuits I would say it can make a big difference if you are planning on going to grad school right out of KP. The longer you take before going back to school, the less it matters. I had no real problem getting into a VaTech Engineering Graduate program. It was "provisional" but it was still in.
 
Lots of Laude

It wouldn't hurt of course and it might help some in getting that first job but beyond that it matters very little and by the time you have five years experience on your resume I would say it matters none at all.

For further educational pursuits I would say it can make a big difference if you are planning on going to grad school right out of KP. The longer you take before going back to school, the less it matters. I had no real problem getting into a VaTech Engineering Graduate program. It was "provisional" but it was still in.

I think KPEngineer has pretty much got it. When I applied to grad school (6 months out of college), all questions about my academic record ceased when I uttered the magic phrase: "my company is sponsoring my master's."

I think that outside of my first job, the only time my GPA mattered was when I took my current gig as "Absent Minded Professor in charge of Dangerous Lab Equipment" two years ago. And even then, the 20+ years of industry counted for more. The honors look great if you mount your diploma on the "I love Me" wall in your office, but long term, its the work I've done since college for which I am most proud.
 
going to grad school

How do you go to grad school w/in a half a year of graduation when you have to sail?

Off topic but the answer is easy: I didn't go to KP! Engineering yes, KP, no! My merchant experience is pretty slim: 1 summer working in the ship yard of Great Lakes Towing Co. in Cleveland (I painted a lot of hulls and chipped rust in even more ballast tanks) and 2 summers working for Dunbar & Sullivan as an engineer/surveyor. I helped dredge a river the first summer and put in a water intake pipeline the second. Good work but my nautical skills were confined to running around in the work skiff to and from the dredge!
 
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