<p>hi all! im a senior now in high school but my high school records weren’t so great…i was hoping to offset this by going to college for a year and hopefully kicking butt in my academics…i talked to my ALO and he told me that if i looked on the admissions website, it would say that i need to keep my grades at least above a C and i would have a good chance…i jus had a few questions i wanted to ask and get responses from other folks…</p>
<p>1.) if i attend college, do u recommend that i go to the summer semester at a local college?</p>
<p>2.) will i need to retake the ACT’s or SAT’s? (didn’t do so great)</p>
<p>well those two questions actually…if u guys can give me some feedback…it’d b appreciated…thanks!</p>
<p>If you are behind in math or science, summer semester would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Take the SAT/ACTs again, and try and find some prep to help out as well before you go take them again. SAT/ACTs are a large part of the scoring here.</p>
<p>Uh, I have to disagree with your ALO. If your academics were subpar in High School, you should be looking at solid A's (a B or two sprinkled in) if you want to get into USAFA. I really don't think that an "avoiding C" mentality is a good idea. Just my opinion. Best of luck.</p>
<p>General guidelines for applying from college are that you should take courses equivalent to those offered at USAFA. Your grades there would indicate the likelihood of your academic success at the academy. It is widely published that academics amount to 60% of your application. How that's broken down is a bit fuzzy, but one ALO told me that it's 22% Math SAT, 15% Verbal Sat, and the rest (23%) is high school GPA and class rank. Not everything said by ALO's is gospel, but that all sounds pretty reasonable to me. No amount of anything else will make up for poor grades and/or bad ACT/SAT scores - except maybe being an all-state football star.</p>
<p>yea he also mentioned that taking similar courses offered at the academy would be a good idea..he also said that ACT's and SAT's are an estimate of how one would do in college..but if im already doing college work and succeeding and doing great..it might not be a problem</p>
<p>Just be aware that how well you do in high school or even college is not necessarily indicative of the grades you will receive at USAFA. USAFA is not a "normal college." It's not uncommon for cadets who held a 4.0 in high school to find themselves on academic probation at the Academy. This is why USAFA is so selective in regard to academics; someone who got sub-part grades prior to applying has very little chance of passing (unless the person didn't really put in the effort before, which begs the question "Why would they begin now?").</p>
<p>From experience of applying from college, I can add a bit...</p>
<p>I had an easier time than you in HS, and was a good candidate, but I didn't think it would be a good fit for me.
But in college, I did sort of the same thing-- getting pretty good grades and staying involved. I think the academy highly regards someone with life experience and that is why they have that age cutoff at 23. </p>
<p>You will need to work much more to make up for high school, but it sounds like you have the right idea of what you need to do. Re-takes and getting in extra classes are the right way to go. I actually did summer session as well, and that was a nice start. (Of course, I thought it would be for that college, lol)</p>
<p>If you can live on campus, do it! Get involved with a club or activity, job, and try to get into a club sport or find a good way to stay fit. (Regret speaking a bit there!)</p>
<p>A word of caution, college is awesome and you make really great friends, so prepare yourself for saying goodbye in the end :(
But hey, you'll meet all those fab people at the Springs, such as those on these boards!! :)</p>
<p>yea i was actually planning to play tennis for this college i was looking at and joining a few clubs and getting a few leadership positions..did i mention i was a minority and was fluent in my language? does that play something?</p>