Senior course advice Naval Academy hopeful

[LastOne]

If you are asking what to take to boost his application, STEM over Psychology will do more for that.

No I am not asking that. My original questions were in my original post. The other classes were more for context of his coursework.

1.) should he take AP Calc AB or BC. He is currently in Adv. Calc. Or does he need a second Calc class? What about AP Stats?
2.) He is currently in Physics (non-AP) does he need AP Physics 2 and can you jump to that from regular physics. Or would it be ok to take Electricity and Magnetism one semester and Bioengineering the second semester? (Or AP Chem)

 

[LastOne]

Boys state will give him actual points on his application. Idk if slight school does. It’s a pretty cool opportunity, but not ones that’s necessary for an appointment. Nit sure if it adds points, or not

In the vein of not volunteering or doing activities for the sake of doing them, he will be doing AF Flight Academy regardless of points on the application. He wants to be a pilot, it is highly selective only about 170 out of 1800 applicants were chosen, and worth about $20k. He is incredibly excited about the opportunity. If that hurts his SA app, so be it.

 

[NavyHoops]

In the vein of not volunteering or doing activities for the sake of doing them, he will be doing AF Flight Academy regardless of points on the application. He wants to be a pilot, it is highly selective only about 170 out of 1800 applicants were chosen, and worth about $20k. He is incredibly excited about the opportunity. If that hurts his SA app, so be it.

Do what makes him happy. You live once. Although Boys State adds points, any competitive program for selection is a positive and might add points. He can put it on his app and his ALO should be able to help fill the gaps. Might be a some good essay topics as well.

 

[justdoit19]

In the vein of not volunteering or doing activities for the sake of doing them, he will be doing AF Flight Academy regardless of points on the application. He wants to be a pilot, it is highly selective only about 170 out of 1800 applicants were chosen, and worth about $20k. He is incredibly excited about the opportunity. If that hurts his SA app, so be it.

That’s not what I was intended to convey. In fact, I personally believe that is important to do what speaks to your heart as well.

But, it’s a fact that Boys State adds points. So to some that may be the important thing. And some kids are under the impression that coming in with a pilots licenses will further their application. It won’t, in and of itself. Although it’s part of the candidate, overall.

It sounds like a fantastic opportunity!!

 

[LastOne]

I think we have it figured out. His GC recommended AP Calc AB and Phys 2
Then:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics 2
Ap Com Sci
Adv. English 12
Civics and Law (.5 year- already has 3.5 years history)
Spanish 3
Wind Ensemble
JROTC

 

[blinkus]

I think we have it figured out. His GC recommended AP Calc AB and Phys 2
Then:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics 2
Ap Com Sci
Adv. English 12
Civics and Law (.5 year- already has 3.5 years history)
Spanish 3
Wind Ensemble
JROTC

Looks good

 

[nuensis]

No I am not asking that. My original questions were in my original post. The other classes were more for context of his coursework.

1.) should he take AP Calc AB or BC. He is currently in Adv. Calc. Or does he need a second Calc class? What about AP Stats?
2.) He is currently in Physics (non-AP) does he need AP Physics 2 and can you jump to that from regular physics. Or would it be ok to take Electricity and Magnetism one semester and Bioengineering the second semester? (Or AP Chem)

Calc AB can be seen as Calc I. Calc BC is Calc I + Calc II in a more accelerated schedule. In other words, Calc BC covers in one course what USNA covers in two (kind of, it's not 1-to-1 but close).

Calc BC can be taken without Calc AB, since the first half of Calc BC is a repeat of the topics in Calc AB. I don't know what's covered in this "advanced calc" class, but you can check out the standard syllabus from the college board AP course site.

I would only skip Calc AB if the student is very confident in their math abilities or the advanced calc course covered the relevant topics (mostly differentiation and differential equations).

This also depends on how the course is taught at the actual school. A Calc BC teacher may assume all students in their class have taken Calc AB in the previous semester and blow through the first "half" of the class entirely to get more time to cover new the topics.

Whatever physics he takes, calculus-based Physics is a good choice. Both offerings of AP Physics C (E&M or Mechanics) will fit the bill. AP Physics 2 is algebra-based, which is less challenging, but given the rest of the courseload, it's perfectly fine to throttle back one course to keep from being overwhelmed. Same logic for AP Stats vs. AP Calc BC--take Stats if you feel like you need to throttle back the workload, but I would drop something else (e.g. keep Calc BC over something like AP Spanish or AP Poli Sci).