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Will a 3/3/4/4/5 Keep me out of HYPSColumbia??
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Replies to: Will a 3/3/4/4/5 Keep me out of HYPSColumbia??
AP is short for "Advanced Placement". The entire point of the test -- the reason it, and the courses, were designed -- was to give students the chance to earn college credit in regular high school courses taught by their high school teachers. It was not designed for admissions purposes and is generally not used by admissions committees for admissions purposes.
You don't even have to report your AP scores on the application. That's not being dishonest, and it's not "tricking" the adcoms. And scoring a 3 on the test and an A in the class doesn't necessarily mean you look inflated. Think about the way college courses are graded: it is entirely possible to get a C on the final exam and still pull a B or an A in the class. Likewise, it's also possible to get an A on the final and still get a C in the class. So it is with AP scores -- it's even MORE possible for a student to get an A in the class (which is an entire semester or year's worth of work) and still get a 3 on the test (which is a high-pressure event that only takes 3 hours tops). It doesn't make your A look any less deserved.
In addition to that, admissions committees look at your entire package. One small thing does not "keep you out" of anything. If you have a 4.0, near-perfect SAT scores, great SAT II scores, and the rest of your package is tight...do you think a school will decline you based on one 3 (especially when by the AP rubric a 3 means "qualified" as in "qualified to do higher-level college material in this area"?
Source: Acing the College Application
Bluebayou - you wouldn't consider my scores to be "horrible" so as to automatically keep me out of those schools, would you?
Not an adcom, so can't answer your question. But, obviously, higher is always better, particularly for unhooked applicants.
As others have posted, test scores are just one piece of your ~6 piece application mosaic. (And, of the test scores, AP scores are a wild card, since technically they are not supposed to be used for admission, but they are.). The consensus is that the six app pieces are: your transcript, (which counts for two or three pieces: gpa+strength of schedule+rank, if available), test scores (SAT/ACT + Subject Tests, essays, teacher recs, GC rec, & any optional items. Only a few hundred apps each year are superstars on all six pieces. And those are auto admits. The adcom's work is in reviewing the applications from the unhooked masses who aren't superstars in all six....
Apply and good luck.
Apply anyway.