<p>I believe they get more out of class rank. My son's school has a brutal grading scale. Honors classes aren't weighted, AP/IB are the only weighted classes and 100-93 is an A......</p>
<p>The high GPA for the number 1 graduate last year was 4.42. </p>
<p>The each school is so different that they try to look at class rank. I believe 55% of those who get appointments are in the top 10% of their class, 85% are in the top 25%. One thing also is an upward trend in grades. Each year GPA should get better. The AFA will remove non academic classes when they recalculate the GPA.</p>
<p>Chivo, One thing I would encourage you and your son is to be open to going to the USAFA Prep school if offered to you. My son did not have an extremely high GPA, but had many other things going for him. We did not know much about the Prep school, but when it was offered he accepted. It was the best thing that could have happened. He learned some very important things while at Prep school, and was much more prepared Academically and militarily when he entered USAFA than he would have been. Our Congressman explained to us that we should consider the Prep school similar to being red-shirted as an athlete at a civilian school. It gives you a year to grow, develop and learn. Just something to think about....</p>
<p>USAFA has very sophisticated ways of comparing GPA's between different schools. As I understand it there is even a national database for such things. Of course, class rank in a competitive school is an important consideration. A junior year GPA of at least 3.8 would certainly be a goal to strive for. There seems to be sort of a "golden triangle" of academics, leadership, and sports. Something outstanding should be sought in all three areas.</p>
<p>You said a junior year GPA of at least 3.8 would be something to strive for. Is this to say the board places more emphasis on junior year than others? My freshman year I had a decent GPA, around the 3.8 mark, but only 1 honors class and sophomore year it dropped to about a 3.5 with 3 honor classes and now, I'm taking 3 honor classes and physics and chem. I think academically I am very weak compared to most, but would a 3.8 make me competitive? Clearly, I am going to strive for perfection, but I also have to be realistic too. I plan on taking several AP's next year, but again, I think academically I am very lacking.</p>
<p>Also, my school's regular classes (non-honors) are college prep. I do not know much about schools and what makes a school more competitive than others, but does that mean something? I hear this school is competitive, but I really don't know why it is other then what they tell me.</p>
<p>Also, what is the earliest possible date to take a DODMERB exam? I know for certain I will need to get a waiver for at least one thing and that the waiver process can take a while. It would be sad if one was to be given a LOA, but then get DQ'ed because of a medical thing and then couldn't get the waiver submitted in on time.</p>
<p>The earliest date to take the dodmerb exam is right after your junior year. For me, I filled out the Precandidate questionaire as soon as I could (around January of this year) and took my dodmerb exam in June. The sent me a letter telling me who my doctors were, and it was up to me to call and schedule an appointment.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I checked info on the Prep school and read that about 75% of the cadet candidates that go thru it sucessfully are allowed to attend the Academy. 75% is a pretty high number. I can live with that.</p>
<p>I will tell you too that the 25% that don't go from Prep school to USAFA are ones that leave during the school year--either voluntaily, or not :). In our experience, if the Cadet Candidate completes the year they have a very high possibilty of entering USAFA. We even saw Cadet Candidates that were on probations for various things get an appointment. The Prep school was a very valuable tool for our cadet, in some ways I think it would not be bad for all cadets to go to the Prep school. </p>
<p>Do you have to take the AP exam to validate classes, or can you just take the departmental test? Also, if you acheive a high enough grade on the AP exam do you still have to take a test to validate out of it? I am concerned with all courses, but more specifically if I have to take the AP Physics C (Mechanics and Elecriticy & Magnestism) exam to validate out of Physics, or I can just take the test.</p>
<p>Ok thanks, I have been debating whether or not to take the AP Physics test because it is on the day of my graduation from HS. I just wanted to make sure I could still take the Placement test to get the credit.</p>