Class rigor, am I okay?

H

hoopjack13

5-Year Member
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Aug 12, 2012
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Hi all,
I am going to be a junior in high school this year at a large public school in MN. As a sophomore I took AP Calc and APUSH, the rest was all honors. For my junior year I took AP stats, AP English, and CIS Bio (AP without the test). I decided not to take AP Euro.. rest of classes were all honors. My friend's dad went to the Air Force Academy and said that he didn't think I was taking enough APs which really scared me. I always thought I took a very hard course load, senior year I plan on taking AP Spanish, AP Calc BC, AP physics, and AP politics and law. Is my course load hard enough? I am ranked 3/606 with a 3.99 unweighted GPA. I am a 3 sport varsity athlete, CC, Basketball, and Track hoping to be a captain in all of these. I am a leader for Fellowship of Christian Athletes and I am secretary of NHS, plan on running for president senior year. I plan on studying and retaking ACT/SAT to get my scores to hopefully a 2200 SAT and 34 ACT. Am I doing enough to get into a service academy? I am looking at either Air Force or West Point and plan on doing SLS for both.. Any input would be greatly appreciated.. thank you!!
 
Your AP load is not insignificant. You have to remember, though, that the SAs are getting even more competitive. I wouldn't let an offhand remark by a guy who got accepted to USAFA 20 or 30 years ago sway you. I would like to see an AP Chem in there, vice CIS Bio. Physical sciences have more cachet at USMA/USAFA than the life sciences do.

What part of Minnesota?
 
I would have definitely taken AP chem but our school only offered honors /: I live in a northern suburb of Minneapolis.
 
You should take the hardest class load you can handle and that is available to you. Period. If that's AP great, if it's Honors great. But the academy will look at the load you took vs what is offered and make a determination based on that. So if one only has Honors classes available and takes all Honors, they're in great shape. Since it sounds like a lot of AP classes are available to you, you should be taking them.
 
Okay, thank you. AP Euro was offered, but I didn't take it.. also I did not take honors 9th grade science. But in general I have taken all honors classes but 1 freshman year and AP Euro is that still enough?
 
You have a decent courseload. Which AP Physics? I hope it's Mechanics, given the fact that you are taking AP/BC Calc. Those two will keep you very busy. Gov't and Spanish are doable w/ the other two AP classes and if your high school is competitive (are kids getting into HYPS?), I can't imagine you wouldn't be an extremely competitive candidate. AP Bio is a lot easier than AP Physics. Curious that your school offers AP Physics and not AP Chem, but seriously you look very competitive academically. How's your CFA/ DODMERB?
 
Thank you very much! What exactly is DODMERB? is that the medical exam? I have something called "flexible flat feet" according to my doctor, she said that service academies allow that and I don't have to worry. For the CFA I am good to go on everything except maybe the basketball throw, I've never tried it!
 
Your schedule looks fine. Since your school doesn't offer AP Chem, then I would conclude that you have taken the most rigorous course load possible at your school, and not consider it any less than a person who had taken AP Chem. Max points for course rigor.
 
Okay thanks, this year I took honors history instead of AP.. How does that affect things? How am I looking in other areas? Any ideas what I could improve/add to my resume?
 
hoopjack13 said:
Okay thanks, this year I took honors history instead of AP.. How does that affect things? How am I looking in other areas? Any ideas what I could improve/add to my resume?
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I did Honors instead of AP EURO as well, don't worry about that though, they don't expect you to be perfect. They understand that you are human and can only handle so much. And as far as what else to add goes, do what YOU enjoy doing. Don't add something on because you think it will make you more competitive, do something you want to do. Don't do 7 different things and expect to look better on an app because in all honesty, how much time can you really invest into 7 different things? Pick a few things that you enjoy doing and gain leadership positions in them, but more importantly, make a difference in them. It shows dedication and loyalty to that activity. What I mean about making a difference is, do something within that activity that you will be able to write about on your application that is totally new and unique. Do something that you will be proud of and that you can talk about to the West Point reps. Show them how you made a change in your community/school.

That was rather lengthy so here is my point. Do what you are passionate about and don't worry about how long your list of achievements is, but rather what the quality of each achievement is. Jonas Salk (developer of the polio vaccine) only did one thing, but what he did changed the world.
 
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