Class Grade Problem

Y

You

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Sep 22, 2020
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I took Calculus the second semester of my sophomore year, but I barely scraped by with a C. To make matters worse, I didn't continue any math courses my junior year because I was planning on being a teacher at the time and didn't think I would ever have to use calculus again. I didn't register for Calc II this semester because I knew I wouldn't be able to that kind of math online and I really didn't want to screw up my GPA.

For the folks who were in admissions, what would you think if you saw this on an applicant's transcripts? Will this be something that could potentially keep me from being considered for an appointment? If I do manage to receive an appointment, would I be put on academic probation?
 
Don't get too far ahead of yourself. They don't just pass out academic probation to anyone, you have to earn it. 😀

Frankly they want to see the most rigorous coursework available and you pulled out of STEM as a junior, which will take some explaining. You can't fix it this year so make it into a story about evolving goals or something. If it doesn't fly (and there's no way to know without knowing more about the rest of your app) then use the next year to restart your STEM work at some other college and replace that C with an A. The academies love reapplicants that dust themselves off, go back and get the work done to return with a better app.
 
StPaulDad said:
Don't get too far ahead of yourself. They don't just pass out academic probation to anyone, you have to earn it. 😀

Frankly they want to see the most rigorous coursework available and you pulled out of STEM as a junior, which will take some explaining. You can't fix it this year so make it into a story about evolving goals or something. If it doesn't fly (and there's no way to know without knowing more about the rest of your app) then use the next year to restart your STEM work at some other college and replace that C with an A. The academies love reapplicants that dust themselves off, go back and get the work done to return with a better app.
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Alright, thanks for the advice! I plan on spending at least one day every week at the learning center at the university I'm going to for tutoring in math, so I my grade should (hopefully) improve a bit.
 
usma84 said:
My DS got a C, then D in senior year (Calculus). He did a prep year, got strong grades and turned the negative into a positive and is now a plebe at USNA- similar to what @StPaulDad says above.
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Congrats to your son, that's amazing!!! What were his stats, if you don't mind me asking?
 
The admissions board looks closely at every candidate to determine if they can handle the math and science program at USMA, primarily through coursework and test scores.

Another resource is Khan Academy, a great place to put in extra work on any math skills that might not be up to standard - Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Calculus.
 
jl123 said:
The admissions board looks closely at every candidate to determine if they can handle the math and science program at USMA, primarily through coursework and test scores.

Another resource is Khan Academy, a great place to put in extra work on any math skills that might not be up to standard - Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Calculus.
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Yep, I've been studying on Khan Academy since March (when I found out about WP), and I'm taking a physics class to help keep my math skills up. Hopefully this will help make for it! 🤞
 
You said:
Congrats to your son, that's amazing!!! What were his stats, if you don't mind me asking?
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3.7/4.2 GPA (weighted/unweighted)
29 ACT Composite
4 yr football (4/3/1 Year/Letter/Captain)
Lots of extracurriculars - work, club, community, etc
Probably 50th percentile/pass on CFA
 
You said:
I took Calculus the second semester of my sophomore year, but I barely scraped by with a C. To make matters worse, I didn't continue any math courses my junior year because I was planning on being a teacher at the time and didn't think I would ever have to use calculus again. I didn't register for Calc II this semester because I knew I wouldn't be able to that kind of math online and I really didn't want to screw up my GPA.

For the folks who were in admissions, what would you think if you saw this on an applicant's transcripts? Will this be something that could potentially keep me from being considered for an appointment? If I do manage to receive an appointment, would I be put on academic probation?
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So my question would be....what do your SAT/ACT Math look like? Obviously at some point you were a strong Math student to be in Calculus in 10th grade. So was it just Calculus that tripped you up? Did your standardized tests come out ok? They might be a justification for poor Calculus scores.
 
I would think that you were accelerated very much in Math but didn't have the maturity/foundation for Calculus (unless there was some other issue). I would think that you wouldn't have looked at Calculus (or any math) in 2 years by the time you started an SA. I would think you were not super STEM focused because you didn't take more math. ALso Covid sort of mitigates some of this.
You would probably have to take Calc again in any STEM major you were interested in but so will many.
 
bopper said:
I would think that you were accelerated very much in Math but didn't have the maturity/foundation for Calculus (unless there was some other issue). I would think that you wouldn't have looked at Calculus (or any math) in 2 years by the time you started an SA. I would think you were not super STEM focused because you didn't take more math. ALso Covid sort of mitigates some of this.
You would probably have to take Calc again in any STEM major you were interested in but so will many.
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Thank you for the feedback! Maybe not exactly what I want to hear, but probably what I need to hear. All of what you said was true for the most part, March was the first time in over a year that I had looked any math beyond basic high school geometry. I plan on taking Calc again in the fall of 2021, so that will probably help me quite a bit. If I explained why I quit taking math and why I want to restart it (other than the fact that my major requires it) would that help, or would it just make things worse? Would it seem like I lack the ability to commit to a long term goal?
 
milmomsomeday said:
So my question would be....what do your SAT/ACT Math look like? Obviously at some point you were a strong Math student to be in Calculus in 10th grade. So was it just Calculus that tripped you up? Did your standardized tests come out ok? They might be a justification for poor Calculus scores.
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My SAT math scores aren't too terribly bad, but are definitely lower than the average WP cadet's score. I'm retaking it on Saturday and I've been studying quite a bit over the past two months, so hopefully my score goes up.
 
This is kind of a side note, but I've been tutoring students who were in third grade up to college students for the past five years. Would this count for anything? Or is it just the SAT scores and the letters on the transcripts that count?
 
usma84 said:
3.7/4.2 GPA (weighted/unweighted)
29 ACT Composite
4 yr football (4/3/1 Year/Letter/Captain)
Lots of extracurriculars - work, club, community, etc
Probably 50th percentile/pass on CFA
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Very nice! In your previous post, did you mean he did a prep year at a local college/university or did he go through NAPS?
 
Throughout my highschool year, I only took geometry and college algebra (dual enrollment) in senior year. Is college algebra good or do I have to take exactly Calculus?
 
UnionRang said:
Throughout my highschool year, I only took geometry and college algebra (dual enrollment) in senior year. Is college algebra good or do I have to take exactly Calculus?
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I'm honestly not sure, but I think the math prerequisites for West Point were the three years of high school math and Pre-Calculus. I think they have they're requirements on the WP home page, maybe check there? If not, check with your field force representative or with admissions.
 
You said:
I'm honestly not sure, but I think the math prerequisites for West Point were the three years of high school math and Pre-Calculus. I think they have they're requirements on the WP home page, maybe check there? If not, check with your field force representative or with admissions.
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Forget about your past grade in the subject ... does this stuff interest you, so much so that you want to figure new and different ways to solve complex problems — Limits, rates, related rates, optimization, approximation, estimation, accumulators, differential estimators (correction), Nth order series approximation ... and on and on.

I loved getting it wrong, and going back and reworking it. If you have this attitude, and you are not scared of getting it wrong, then you will be fine.
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