How are my grades?

[publius42]

I understand the concept that it is difficult to predict whether or not you are going to get in to any Service Academy. Nonetheless, I want anyone’s opinion on the following final grades:

Honors Pre-Calc/Trig: 83%
Honors Algebra II: 87%
Chemistry I: 91%
Chemistry II: 88%

Mainly what I am nervous about is the precalc grade. Honors classes at my high school are given a 1.2 multiplier (so my 83 is technically a 99.6) and it combined 9 weeks of pre-calculus with 9 weeks of trigonometry with both concepts covered on the final. Will the Naval Academy understand these conditions?

Secondly, all my other grades are A’s with some well over 100% because of multipliers. Once again, I don’t know how much thought the academies put into the multipliers. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Don't Give Up the Ship]

I don't know how SA's analyze advance (AP, Honors) classes. I do know that you do not need all A's to be competitive. How you do on SAT & ACT as well as ECAs, "applied Leadership", and athletics matter quite a bit. Personally I believe it is better to earn an 87 in an honors STEM class than a 91 in a regular class. Also, your class rank and how successful your particular HS is at sending graduates to SAs (in the past), appears to be a factor. For many candidates, appointments are not just about grades. Good luck.

 

[justdoit19]

Hello! So you are interested apply to a SA? A couple things that you need to do, beyond focusing on only grades. As that’s only a piece of the ultimate goal of obtaining an appointment. Looking at you grades here, absent any framework, isn’t telling as to your success. For example: how competitive is your high school (the SA will know the strength of you HS...it does matter)? Are you taking the hardest classes offered? And of course the very important piece of how you compare to your local competition, and the competitiveness of your area (IOW, will you obtain a nomination, and win that slate? Impossible to know how your competition will do).

Grades are important. But they are not the only piece of the WXS. There is a lot more to it than Your grades. A standardized ACT/SAT will also be a better gauge of this, as it takes into account different high school profiles.

Another thing to keep in mind, is a person, in general, may be deemed a good candidate for a prep program. That is offered by the SA. I think sometimes future candidates read the stellar resumes here, and think they don’t have a chance. That’s simply not true, one of my own two now Mids would probably surprise readers with one of his grades. An appointment is MORE than any grade in high school. It’s a whole package, that is affected by things such as the nomination process, diversity targets, competitiveness of your district. So one never knows how it will all play out!!

Good luck! Immerse yourself in the tabbed info here on the forums, as well as the SA’s website.

 

[fullspeedahead]

Also, keep in mind that at college and at USNA there will not be a 1.2 times multiplier for difficult classes. I remember my first semester I took calculus and finished with an 89.97 and got a B in the class. That was after going to every single office hour session throughout the semester and building a good relationship with the professor, but at the end I earned a B and not an A.

Grades are not the only thing that the service academies evaluate. Did you receive these grades while playing a sport, participating in a club, working a job, etc? If so then you have a good shot at admission. However if you barely do anything outside of school besides studying and you are getting more B’a then A’s, then your chances are against you. Good grades are important for admission, but at the end of the day you are working towards becoming a Naval Officer. There are other things that are important as a leader, hence why your entire high school involvement is evaluated.

 

[publius42]

Thank you to all who responded. For those interested, I worked three jobs throughout my time in high school since my sophomore year. Besides that I ran varsity cross country the three years I did so. I lettered all three and I was captain my senior year. I also participated in mock trial where I was a prosecuting attorney for my Sophomore and Junior year and I was the defendant my Freshman year. I also participated in Marching Band where I lettered for four out of the four years. I was made section leader my Senior year. Besides that I do jazz band, honors band (which is auditioned out of three counties), district band, and county band. For these ensembles I played either saxophone or oboe. My Sophomore and Junior year I recruited and “directed” an ensemble of students to play Christmas carols at the local senior citizens home. We couldn’t do it this year because of COVID-19. I also am a mentor for middle school students in our HS middle school mentor program. I also did stage crew for musical. I also volunteered at the humane society and at the senior citizens home in the music therapy department. I played saxophone and guitar for that.