Course Validation

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Napk1ns

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I am currently entering my junior year of high school and have the opportunity to take courses at a local community college. I would like to know your input on which courses I should take to best prepare myself for the academy or validate credits there. Thank you
 
Napk1ns said:
I am currently entering my junior year of high school and have the opportunity to take courses at a local community college. I would like to know your input on which courses I should take to best prepare myself for the academy or validate credits there. Thank you
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If you have already waded through every page, drop down menu and link on USNA.edu during your research at the primary source, you will have found this:
www.usna.edu

General Advice for Grades 9-12

General Advice for Grades 9-12 page for Admissions at USNA.edu. Updated Fri Apr 11 04:41:43 EDT 2025.
www.usna.edu

In general, take the most challenging courses your school or the community college have to offer, especially in the STEM area. Of course, any college credits won’t transfer, but should give you a good foundation for the validation exams, so that you might place out of a course or place into a higher course.
Good luck!
 
Agree with the posters. You want to take the hardest courses you can with a focus on Calc, Chem and Physics being key courses. Also history, English and a foreign language mastery are great things to focus on as writing skills and reading comprehension are crucial to any any college curriculum and life skills. The admissions website gives all this info, to include how courses are validated. I would also recommend candidates follow the admissions dept on the various social media websites. They have LTs who do live streams and cover a great deal of these topics. I believe either this week or last week they covered validation. It’s a good one to watch.

Getting in is the goal. If you focus on the above courses and your test scores, it increases your chances to get in. The better you do and mastering things like Calc will help with things like validation exams.
 
Capt MJ said:
If you have already waded through every page, drop down menu and link on USNA.edu during your research at the primary source, you will have found this:
www.usna.edu

General Advice for Grades 9-12

General Advice for Grades 9-12 page for Admissions at USNA.edu. Updated Fri Apr 11 04:41:43 EDT 2025.
www.usna.edu
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Agreed 100%. You also could have searched and found the many threads on this issue that already exist.
 
Please do not take my earlier post as snarky as it appears. It all works out in the end. If you take the challenging courses, and are fortunate enough to get an appointment, then there is an excellent chance that you will in fact validate many of those courses. It's a win-win. Just keep your focus on that appointment. Good luck to you!
 
BTW, USNA doesn't necessarily value CC credits more highly than h.s. credits. The only reasons to take CC classes would be: (1) you have already finished the highest level of a class your high school offers, or (2) your h.s. is terrible and you will get better instruction at at CC (and can handle those classes). Also keep in mind that getting a low B or C in a CC college class won't help.
 
I would venture to say that getting a low B or C in any class won't help an application to any service academy. ;)
 
There are midshipmen that took the hardest classes including CC classes, got As, and didn’t validate any.

Do your best to get in. Validation has pros and cons that you can review after appointment.
 
My DD has validated multiple courses: Chem 1 and 2, Physics 1 and 2, and Calc 1, 2, and 3. She may also have validated the first English and History courses, but I'm not firm on that knowledge.
I'm assuming that the benefit to her (among other things) will be to allow her to begin with additional elective courses (both within a chosen major, and outside, 'pure' electives) at an earlier point in her 4-year path than she otherwise would?
She has met with her ac advisors, and they are on-board with her validating the collection she has.
 
techman89 said:
My DD has validated multiple courses: Chem 1 and 2, Physics 1 and 2, and Calc 1, 2, and 3. She may also have validated the first English and History courses, but I'm not firm on that knowledge.
I'm assuming that the benefit to her (among other things) will be to allow her to begin with additional elective courses (both within a chosen major, and outside, 'pure' electives) at an earlier point in her 4-year path than she otherwise would?
She has met with her ac advisors, and they are on-board with her validating the collection she has.
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That gives her flexibility to dual major, take on a minor, take a slightly lighter course load, explore a semester at another SA during 2/c year without too much schedule-jiggling or take some electives of interest.

If her grades and overall performance warrant, she may look into the VGEP program, if it is still being offered. VGEP allows the mid to complete all undergraduate course work by December of their 1/c year. They then attend (have to be accepted) an area graduate school for a one-year Master’s program in an approved area. This could be Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, American, GWU, UMD, etc. They live in company area second semester 1/c year but commute to school. They graduate with their class and get their B.S. in May but remain in the area to finish their Master’s as a full-time student, graduating from that program in December, and going with the last of their classmates to their ship or training pipeline. One of our USNA sponsor mids had validated almost every plebe course and half of 3/c, so he did VGEP and earned a Master’s from Georgetown, then went on to flight school in January.

She will get plenty of briefs on all these programs, her advisors and profs know how to spot the mids who can handle this, and she’ll talk to upperclass who are doing various options.

There is also IGEP and UK Scholars, that small group who compete for the Rhodes, Fulbright, various other post-grad scholarships who go do that 1-2 years right after graduation.

It’s very early days. She has to settle into her academic routine but also remain sat in her plebe training, physical fitness, military aptitude and conduct. As I noted, she will hear about all these other things. Her only focus now will be on becoming a good plebe and staying sat in all areas.
 
Quick question: On the course validation policy they don't accept AP chem scores. Does anybody know if AP Chem is equivalent to just Chem 1, or if it covers both?
 
Capt MJ: thanks for your (always) insightful feedback. You are a fountain of invaluable information to all of us who utilize the USNA SAF.

DD feels extremely honored and fortunate to be on the Yard. She has a strong work ethic and is very organized, but having the support system in place that she does at the Academy (both thru ac advisors and upperclass mids) will be a huge part of her potential success.

We are thrilled with her start during this unconventional Plebe Summer. She was able to win the Rates Competition for her Company, and even got a shout-out from the 'Dant on his Dant Daily IG channel as a result. :)

She is interested in nuclear engineering, with a desire (right now; things often change, though!) of entering submarine service. Is the Trident Scholar program something that might fit with her goals?

eaab08: not sure about AP Chem equivalent to USNA chem curriculum. DD scored a 5 on the AP Chem and was able to validate both chem classes at the Academy.
 
eaab08 said:
Quick
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techman89 said:
Capt MJ: thanks for your (always) insightful feedback. You are a fountain of invaluable information to all of us who utilize the USNA SAF.

DD feels extremely honored and fortunate to be on the Yard. She has a strong work ethic and is very organized, but having the support system in place that she does at the Academy (both thru ac advisors and upperclass mids) will be a huge part of her potential success.

We are thrilled with her start during this unconventional Plebe Summer. She was able to win the Rates Competition for her Company, and even got a shout-out from the 'Dant on his Dant Daily IG channel as a result. :)

She is interested in nuclear engineering, with a desire (right now; things often change, though!) of entering submarine service. Is the Trident Scholar program something that might fit with her goals?

eaab08: not sure about AP Chem equivalent to USNA chem curriculum. DD scored a 5 on the AP Chem and was able to validate both chem classes at the Academy.
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You’re very welcome.
Trident Scholar is a great program.
www.usna.edu

Trident Scholar Program

Trident Scholar Program page for Trident Scholar Program at USNA.edu. Updated Wed Apr 16 11:03:16 EDT 2025.
www.usna.edu

So is Bowman:
www.usna.edu

Bowman Scholar Program Summary

Bowman Scholar Program page for Bowman Scholars at USNA.edu. Updated Fri May 10 13:19:51 EDT 2024.
www.usna.edu

One of our sponsor mids was a Trident, prior enlisted via NAPS, co-presented a paper with his prof at a prestigious European conference.

A few of our sub-bound sponsor mids have gone to two-year MIT or other IGEP programs, then on to the two-year nuke pipeline, reporting to their first boats after 4 years. That’s a loooong time in school, and not the normal path. Most officers get their Master’s after their first operational tours and obtaining warfare pin. We had 2 of 5 sponsor mids in 1 class go subs. One went to MIT. The other one was ready to get on with the nuke pipeline and get to operational things at the same time as her year group. She did that, and is now enjoying a wonderful tour of full-time duty as a student at Georgetown, where her age, maturity and life experiences have given her an edge over classmates.

Your daughter will have plenty of time and opportunity to determine what’s right for her when she comes up for air.
 
eaab08 said:
Quick question: On the course validation policy they don't accept AP chem scores. Does anybody know if AP Chem is equivalent to just Chem 1, or if it covers both?
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The Advisors look at the AP Scores but more importantly it is how you do on the validation tests. The Plebes take the Chem validation test and if you do well enough, get an invite to take the next one which is for Chem 2.
 
techman89 said:
eaab08: not sure about AP Chem equivalent to USNA chem curriculum. DD scored a 5 on the AP Chem and was able to validate both chem classes at the Academy.
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I got a 4 :/ Hopefully enough for validation but I'll study just in case if I end up getting an appointment. Thanks!
 
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