So I'm going to be honest, in the next year, there is no where I'd rather be than at USAFA. This has held true since I was just a kid. However, my senior year is not what I imagined it to be. App is in, Mocnom is secured, but my senior year in HS has been absolutely horrendous, I mean just bad all around. I have really tried everything to make this year my best, but sometimes you just have those years, and this is definitely one. If I don't get accepted, but have a really great year as a freshman at a civ college, will USAFA see this? I mean, if I join ROTC, keep up on grades, and do better on everything else, will a bad senior year still hurt me, or will they look past it? thanks
bad senior year
- Thread starter J3Rizzo
- Start date
Use this as a learning experience. The same kind of thing may happen in colldge.
I am sure in the past, maybe school work wasn't as hard. Maybe family life was okay and your health was good. Your social life was decent.
Now one or more of those things is going awry. The worst thing to do is to keep doing what you are doing...it isn't working!
Figure out all the tools you have to help you. Here are ideas:
0) GO TO CLASS, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
1) Go to Teacher's office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: "I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?"
2) If you have problems with the homework, go to Teacher's office hours. If they have any "help sessions" or "study sessions" or any thing extra, go to them.
3) Form a study group with other kids in your class.
4) Don't do the minimum...for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or chemistry whatever. Watch online videos (e.g., Khan Academy) about the topic you are studying.
5) If things still are not going well, get a tutor. Your National Honor Society will have some. Or ask a teacher for a referral.
6) Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
7) For tests that you didn't do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study...there may be a study skill center at your guidance office.
8) How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? Is it enough?
9) If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the guidance counselor and talk to them. They may be able to talk with your teachers and grant you some leniency.
10) At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The teacher may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
11) Make sure you understand how to use your online class system...Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the teacher wants).
12) If you get an assignment...make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
13) If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the teacher's office hours...not the day before the assignment is due.
14) Take advantage of any "re-do" tests you may be able to take..your teacher wants you to learn the material. Future material depends on it so you need to have the foundation. By explaining what went wrong you really understand it. Take advantage of this.
I am sure in the past, maybe school work wasn't as hard. Maybe family life was okay and your health was good. Your social life was decent.
Now one or more of those things is going awry. The worst thing to do is to keep doing what you are doing...it isn't working!
Figure out all the tools you have to help you. Here are ideas:
0) GO TO CLASS, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
1) Go to Teacher's office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: "I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?"
2) If you have problems with the homework, go to Teacher's office hours. If they have any "help sessions" or "study sessions" or any thing extra, go to them.
3) Form a study group with other kids in your class.
4) Don't do the minimum...for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or chemistry whatever. Watch online videos (e.g., Khan Academy) about the topic you are studying.
5) If things still are not going well, get a tutor. Your National Honor Society will have some. Or ask a teacher for a referral.
6) Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
7) For tests that you didn't do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study...there may be a study skill center at your guidance office.
8) How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? Is it enough?
9) If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the guidance counselor and talk to them. They may be able to talk with your teachers and grant you some leniency.
10) At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The teacher may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
11) Make sure you understand how to use your online class system...Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the teacher wants).
12) If you get an assignment...make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
13) If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the teacher's office hours...not the day before the assignment is due.
14) Take advantage of any "re-do" tests you may be able to take..your teacher wants you to learn the material. Future material depends on it so you need to have the foundation. By explaining what went wrong you really understand it. Take advantage of this.
As an example, I was in a telecom Communications class in college. I had a 3.5+ GPA. But this class I was not doing well (mostly because there would be these 6 point quizzes and if you got some little part wrong you would get 1/2 point off which is alot).. I realized at some point how I was studying wasn't working FOR THIS CLASS. When homework was returned, it so happened that the TA would provide the problem completely worked out...and other problems too. So I used this...I would try to do all the problems I could and then compare to what the worked out answers were. By doing and learnign by the examples, I was able to get an 85 on the final and get a decent grade.
But I had to change what I was doing/how I was studying... it wasn't working.
But I had to change what I was doing/how I was studying... it wasn't working.
RedFalcon2124
Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 21
I did pretty bad as a senior in HS, and didn't get in. Went to a prep school / college for a year, got a 4.0 and got in the next year. USAFA will see the dedication, but you have to put in hard work!