Semester One Grades

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trailrunner612

5-Year Member
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Jan 18, 2018
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Hi all,
This is my first forum post so please bear with me. I am in my senior year of high school and about to be finishing up semester one. I have a C+ in one class, AP Statistics for reference, and was wondering if the academy would take that into consideration. I have a strong GPA, leadership resume, sports, etc. and am overall a competitive candidate. But could this hold me back? Looking for advice from current USAFA cadets. Thank you!
 
How’s your AP Calculus grade? If your math grades and other grades in senior year are A and A- I wouldn’t sweat it. Many kids who are good in numeric and formula driven math are not good in Stats. Stats is a different kind of math. If your math and science are general solid, I would t worry about it. Stat is not considered a core math and AP Stats is rather taken by many Soph and Juniors who are advanced in math. When taken by seniors they take it to fill the remaining schedule and often over look to study as hard as they did for their core math leading up to AP Calculus. Try to recover and finish the class with an overall B or higher for the year end. The C+ just hurts your overall solid 4.0.
 
I am worried about DS semester 1 grades as well. He has always had As but this term he received two C+s. Both are AP/IB classes but we are wondering if this could hurt him significantly? One class was IB Eng and the other was AP Calc BC. He and another student are the only 2 in the school qualified to take it, but they have to take it online since they have no one to teach it. He was struggling they were both struggling so they went to their AP Calc teacher from last year, but everything he helped with was marked wrong! DS has reached out to a cousin at WPI and tries to get help via FaceTime. We also have s letter into the dept chair to find out what other options these 2 kids have for help. Will this be the end of the road for DS from the SA’s?
 
DD took stats at USAFA. It was....unpleasant.
 
Now I see the full picture. Ok, online courses are great for those who pace well and need flexible time to manage the course. But the down side is requires a lot more self study so you should get a tutor not a teacher to supplement the study. Since your children are struggling teacher is not the best source. They have other students to take care of and cannot give one on one attention to your children need. Get a tutor who can work with your kids throughout the class. Will not need for all topics but someone you can meet regularly once or twice a week.

AP Cal BC is a harder Math. Topics on Integral and antiderivatives some kids struggle with. AP English requires pacing and lots of writing practice really. Sometimes online course answers are wrong. My kid took AP Calculus Online and he had to challenge his teacher many times with answers that came back wrong. He won most of the times. His teacher had to consult other Calculus teachers and often he was right. The calculus teacher really loved that and didn’t get offended. She eventually wrote him a raving reference to college. So don’t rely on answers as given by the online results.

Stats again it is not easy for math lovers. It is ironic. Kids who do well in Calculus don’t always do well in Stats. It was the same for me when I took it. I took it in college and graduate MBA Program and both times I didn’t enjoy it. I did well but didn’t enjoy it. But I loved taking Calculus. Using Calculus to solve economic and business problems and problems in Physics made it simpler than using Algebra. I believe Calculus with Optimization or Vector is needed at USNA and USAFA but not at USMA. They are slightly different in use. Optimization is also used at MBA Programs. It is useful to understand to solve production and manufacturing issues but we now use computer to solve that for us in real life. I don’t think I ever went back to using Calculus to solve business problems after grad school.

Don’t worry about stats. Just take 1 semester and move on if not needed further. But understanding concept is important even when using computer to solve problems. Stats are used to evaluate lab and data results most often. Used frequently in social science, health, and marketing. It is practical application. So focus on concepts. It is like learning economic concepts that drive the discipline. Economics and Finance both become all Calculus like math at the upper and graduate levels. My assessment, Advanced Algebra and Calculus are the most useful Math to retain for young professionals throughout their 20s.
 
If you get more than 1 C+ in core subjects, I believe it can hurt so should explain in a letter to Admissions why you got that grade. In the letter I would add many things that your DS is doing to Update while doing so bring up the grade and explain. What they think is relative to how your kids did in other classes to-date. 1 C+ maybe ok but 2 C+ may hurt. Again relative to what other classes your DS is taking this year.
 
trailrunner612 said:
Hi all,
This is my first forum post so please bear with me. I am in my senior year of high school and about to be finishing up semester one. I have a C+ in one class, AP Statistics for reference, and was wondering if the academy would take that into consideration. I have a strong GPA, leadership resume, sports, etc. and am overall a competitive candidate. But could this hold me back? Looking for advice from current USAFA cadets. Thank you!
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Same boat as you, AP Statistics isn't my forte
 
Have they requested them? Yes? Then yes, it might. I know a friend who got rejected by USNA because of a dip in her math grade in senior year. However, since it’s AP stats and not AP calc, it might not be considered as seriously (assuming you took calc and got a B or A). Not trying to scare you, sorry if I did. However, if this is the only C you’ve gotten and you have a great SAT /ACT score, there are VERY high chances the admissions board will be merciful.
 
trailrunner612 said:
Hi all,
This is my first forum post so please bear with me. I am in my senior year of high school and about to be finishing up semester one. I have a C+ in one class, AP Statistics for reference, and was wondering if the academy would take that into consideration. I have a strong GPA, leadership resume, sports, etc. and am overall a competitive candidate. But could this hold me back? Looking for advice from current USAFA cadets. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Just to encourage you, our DS had Cs in AP Calc AB and BC, and a C in Honors Chem, and he just received an appointment. Overall 4.45 GPA with lots of AP/Honors classes. SAT 660 Math/ 720 Verbal. He's at a very competitive high school and I know that factors into the way they score applicants. Also was class president, played multiple sports. So based on our experience, even more than one C is not a deal breaker.
 
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