Study abroad? Sure, I have a friend in Japan now at their NDA for a semester and another at a civilian university. I have gone on a spring break trip to Japan as an immersion paid for by the Academy. Many of my friends did the 4 week immersion over the summer and got class credit for it.
For the ones like chemistry, can they only be validated with a 5 and a good validation in BCT or will a good validation be sufficient?
It's ambiguous, but if you absolutely rock out the validation test, they will probably boost you. They don't advance high chem achievers as high anymore (only one class up instead of 2), so it's not as much as a concern.
For the ones that don't mention a validation, are the courses only waivable with AP scores?
AP and IB. Usually you need a 4 or 5, most of the time a 5 now, in order to validate. Only a few allow this like English, non-core computer science, and Physics C.
Do cadets go back home for Thanksgiving? Which breaks do cadets usually go home on?
I go home Thanksgiving and Christmas. I only had summer leave my first summer (went home), but haven't had it since. Some stay here and ski during Thanksgiving. Some stay because its cost prohibitive to go home twice in a 2 month period.
For Spring break, my trips:
2007: Cayman Islands
2008: Osaka, Japan for immersion
2009: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I like going OCONUS!
Also, could someone please post a 1st year class schedule?
Here was mine:
Fall-
Chem 222 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CompSci 110 H INTRO TO COMP SCIENCE
Engr 100 INTRO TO ENGR. SYSTEMS
Japanese 221 INTERMED JAPANESE I
Math 253 ADVANCED PLACED CALCULUS III
PhyEd 110 B BOXING
Spring-
BehSci 110S INTRO. BEHAV. SCI/LDRS
Econ 200 INTRO TO ECONOMICS
ExtProg 917 INTRAMURALS/GROUPS 1 AND 2
History 101S MODERN WORLD HISTORY
Japanese 222 INTERMED JAPANESE II
MSS 100 MILIT. THEORY/STRATEGY
PhyEd 112 F PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Physics 110H GENERAL PHYSICS I