@pinklinks @duravative @ReturningFavor
I agree with you all 100%. 15 APs with great scores did NOTHING for my son. He did not get into any of the 7 schools he initially applied even though he was the valedictorian of his class of 360, a National Merit Finalist, won lots of school competitions and department awards, had high SAT/ACT scores, had teacher recommendations putting him in the top 5 of his teachers’ careers, was coming from a less populated state, 2 sport varsity athlete, 2 instrument musician, legacy of a legacy at one of the schools (Dartmouth), both parents went to med school at another of the schools (Tufts)… He was waitlisted at both of those schools plus 2 other schools. He was waitlisted at Harvard, but the counselor said it was because they took the salutatorian. She took maybe 10 APs and wanted to go to Stanford. She got rejected EA but got into Harvard RA. #4 got into Columbia. #5 got into UPenn. #6 got into MIT. My son was outright rejected by 3 schools and did not move off any of the 4 waiting lists he was on. So, he applied so several more schools after April 1 and got into all of them.
In retrospect, he should not have taken 8 AP exams senior year and done his sports. It took up a lot of time. He would have been better writing a stronger essay. Or he could have worked or volunteered somewhere. He did not have any leadership roles and he did not have a “hook.” He did not stand out. What the high ups told me at Tufts was that they are looking for people who will contribute to the school not just those who will excel academically at the school. In other words, it is not really about how good you are academically as these schools all have thousands of applicants who are qualified. As long as you meet a minimum standard, they are looking at more subjective data to make the final decision. You have to make a good argument as to why of the 1000s of applicants they have, they should choose you. Also, why of the 1000s of schools out there that school is the one for you.
I also agree that the PSAT was way more important for my son because he got a large scholarship. He would have gotten that scholarship based on that test result and that result alone. He could have had ZERO APs and still gotten that same scholarship. Actually, a 4.0 (all As but no APs) would have put someone around 25th in my son’s class. He probably still could have gotten into the same college where he is going with that ranking and GPA. However, with the APs, he has 64 units. His school only allows 60 “transfer credits,” so he will need to forfeit 4 units anyway. He will have the opportunity to double major or graduate early.
I think that if you do 5-10 APs during your entire high school career, that is more than enough. It shows that you can do college work. It gives you a better ranking in your class. State AP scholar is such an afterthought because it is coming way too late for anything else. But it is a State level award and there are not that many of them around in our not very populated state. It would be nice but definitely NOT a big deal if it didn’t happen. We have dealt with plenty of disappointment throughout this process and have made it through.