No Pre-cal

Giantatom

Giantatom

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
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An admissions counselor just told me the other day that I haven't taken precalculus, which is a course they recommend. I decided not to take pre-cal my senior year because my school doesn't offer an honors/AP course for it, so I took AP Statistics instead. After talking with my counselor, my only option at this point is to take precalculus in correspondence for a high school credit, which means paying for the course (not a huge issue), studying for it completely on my own outside of school, and passing the exam. My counselor added that he worries I might not be able to complete it, but I think I can if it's really necessary.

My question is whether or not precalculus is important for me and my application, and whether or not it would be worth self-studying and paying for at this point. Thanks.
 
Giantatom said:
An admissions counselor just told me the other day that I haven't taken precalculus, which is a course they recommend. I decided not to take pre-cal my senior year because my school doesn't offer an honors/AP course for it, so I took AP Statistics instead. After talking with my counselor, my only option at this point is to take precalculus in correspondence for a high school credit, which means paying for the course (not a huge issue), studying for it completely on my own outside of school, and passing the exam. My counselor added that he worries I might not be able to complete it, but I think I can if it's really necessary.

My question is whether or not precalculus is important for me and my application, and whether or not it would be worth self-studying and paying for at this point. Thanks.
Click to expand...
What do you think your top competitors would do/are doing?

The USAFA website tells you what to take to be competitive, and you’ve had an Admissions rep confirm it:

www.academyadmissions.com

Academic Requirements | U.S. Air Force Academy

Academic requirements for admission to the Air Force Academy are based on academic record transcript and college admissions tests (SAT or ACT scores).
www.academyadmissions.com www.academyadmissions.com

They look for candidates taking the hardest versions available of the courses they recommend.

USAFA will see the school profile sent by the guidance counselor, so they will know pre-calculus was available and there were no Honors/AP versions available. They would have been fine with you taking regular pre-calculus.

If you want this, you know what to do. But - when would a grade from the correspondence course be available? You may want to discuss your plan with Admissions and see if they think that will help your competitiveness.

This is an early life lesson in paying attention to detail, but good for you in immediately thinking about alternative solutions. This scramble could also demonstrate your ability to adapt, overcome and survive while investing extra effort. If you make it into USAFA, the level of effort and pressure there usually outpaces your HS workload by significant percentages. This could be a trial run at pushing yourself hard.

Vow to yourself you will not succumb to senioritis.
 
@flieger83 As a neighborhood squid, I felt comfortable in providing the general advice above, but from the ALO point of view, should @Giantatom update the mentor ALO with the plan of attack?
 
Giantatom,

As always, CaptMJ's advice is spot-on. She asks now: "Should you tell your mentor ALO and what would the ALO say?"

First, YES...always tell your ALO your entire plan of attack. Think of this process as a mission to complete; you need a wingman (ALO) to ensure mutual support and protection. The ALO can look at your entire package with you, comment on its strengths and weaknesses, and make recommendations. We're pretty well connected with the admissions folks too.

Now, if you were my candidate, you'd have had the following questions:

1. Your school offers Pre-Calculus but you chose not to take it, why? You answered that above.
2. So, you chose to take AP Statistics because AP Pre-Calculus wasn't offered...okay, why? Why is the AP class more important than the class recommended by the admissions directorate? We'd have had a lengthy discussion about this: is the grade bump of the AP class what you're seeking, or do you have a deep-seated interest in mathematics and you felt statistics was a better choice for you? That's not a bad thing, by the way, but it helps the ALO/Admissions to know you a bit better.
3. Okay, so you spoke with someone in admissions (TEAM BLUE or TEAM SILVER?) and they commented that you hadn't taken pre-calculus...what else did they say? Did they go into any detail, make an immediate recommendation, or explain that they were concerned? Did you tell the individual WHY you chose not to take pre-calculus? Again, a good conversation can go a long way.
4. So...do you "go for it" now or not? Only you can answer that one.

Now it's the ALOs turn.

Okay, so you have a great math background and are taking AP Stat's...that's fine as long as you CRUSH it!! Take the AP exam, score a 4 or 5 on it, and get that to USAFA immediately! That will be noticed! How are your math scores on the SAT/ACT? Are they high? If so, then you're looking pretty good. If they're low...that might be viewed as an indication that higher math might be a problem.

Bottom line: will NOT taking pre-calculus tank your application? NO. Is it a "flag" to some admissions people? YES. However, it's NOT REQUIRED, just recommended. This would have been a great discussion to have with your ALO back in July.

I hope this helps!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
You already got great advice above! I just want to present another possible option.

Is there a possibility to take Precalc as a DE class with a local Jr. college? Ours offers it as a semester class and would be give you more accountability than a correspondence course. There are also several online platforms with real teachers that homeschoolers use for math requirements as well. Just throwing out some options you might not know about.
 
My DS was able to take several Computer Science classes that were not offered at his High School through this site. www.edx.org

He was able to get credit through Rice University which transferred back to his High School. They added them to his transcript that was sent to USAFA.

Here is the link to their Pre-calculus classes

Best Online Precalculus Courses and Programs

Explore online precalculus courses. Develop the skills to advance your career with edX.
www.edx.org www.edx.org

It appears that they have a class that runs through Arizona State University that starts today :cool:
 
The reason there is no AP precalculus is because the college board does not have that class. With a quick search online it turns out they just created the class and it is being offered for the first time next year. Calc 1 and 2 are core classes at USAFA and precalculus is not offered. I would recommend taking it, there might be a remedial precalc class offered here but it’s going to throw you off track. I don’t know how it could affect your application, but for the purpose of starting out at the base level classes here I would take it.
 
If Precalculus is NOT offered at USAFA then you need to take it because you will not be ready for Calculus at USAFA. Precalculus is a harder course than AP Statistics IMHO as a Precalculus/Calculus/Statistics teacher. As Skyhawk correctly pointed out there is no AP Precalculus this year. You needed that preparation for Calculus!
 
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