AP question fast help please

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
1

Thank you for any advice:

DS is going to Princeton this fall in BSE. He has taken lots of AP exams and gotten fives. He just texted me that it’s not too late to refrain from taking the Euro exam, and to get back $80 and the hours of pay he could earn at his internship instead.

However, would this look horrible, and would he risk a rescinding? If he takes it, he studied a lot and would likely get a five. But he already maxed out history AP credit. (He signed up for the exam before knowing which college he’d attend and it could have been valuable at others.)

Thoughts??

2

Princeton, or any other school, will not rescind for not taking an AP test, nor would they rescind for getting a 1. If there is no benefit to taking the exam, then tell him not to take it.

3

Thank you @skieurope but will he look like a kid who slacked off? Or a kid who was scared of getting a 1?

I certainly would have him take it if it were only a matter of no benefit. It’s also apparently a big cash savings if he doesn’t take it…?

4

AP score reports at Princeton, and most other colleges, go straight to the registrar’s office for processing of credit and/or placement; admissions most likely will never see it, and the clerk processing the scores will not care. :slight_smile:

5

I wish my daughter could have opted out of some of her 6 APs. They’re mandatory at our school, so she has to suffer through the exams knowing her college doesn’t accept AP scores for credit and I get to pay almost $600.

6

The cost of a single AP exam is $92.00

7

Yes, plus four hours of working for pay at his job. To our family, significant…

8

follow up: DS asked his GC who said “don’t take it but maybe check first with P” - he called P and they said, “we expect you to take all the exams you listed on the Common App”. So he’s taking Euro.

9

My son was in a similar situation prior to matriculation and called Princeton and received exactly the same answer. He should take the exam since he listed it.

10

Thank you @Cantiger. So he will take Euro (and definitely anyway was going to take two more exams that can count for him) - the only outstanding question is if he needs to take Eng Lang. He put it on the list because it fills an esoteric requirement for a writing test at MIT, but is not taking a correlated course, or in any way committed to the exam via the school. It’s further complicated by the fact that Eng Lang is on a day when he would be working off-site, so he’d miss an entire day to take the exam. And it offers no credit at all to him at Princeton.

So, is the Common App list the be-all and end-all, or would these be enough reasons to take “all but Eng”? Would Princeton rescind or “be mad” if he takes all but one?

11

Interesting. I now go to a peer school, and when I called them LY and asked if there was an issue with me not taking the AP exam, the woman laughed at me. :))

Maybe call again and see if a different person gives a different answer? Regardless, they certainly would not rescind for skipping one. And personally, I wouldn’t lose a day’s pay to take it with no benefit.

12

A couple of things that I thought of later:

• I think if you check the admissions agreement, they also use language like “expect you to maintain your GPA” or something to that effect. Just because they “expect” this does not mean that they always get it. Similarly, despite the wording, the student with all A’s who suddenly gets a B, will not be rescinded, although clearly, the GPA dropped. So the person may have simply been reading a script
• I think Princeton’s comment would have more validity if they were MIT or UCB or some other school that does not use the Common App. If a student applies using the Common App, s/he’s listing her projected AP exams based upon covering the requirements of the majority of schools. For a college that does not give AP credit in a subject to expect a student to take said exam is a little unrealistic IMO. Although, as you will soon find, Princeton will get you coming and going with fees and extras, I’d be telling them to pay me the $92 to take the exam if they want it so badly, or at the very least, know that I will be deducting the $92 from my annual giving. :slight_smile: Anyway, best of luck to your son.

13

I would call up Princeton about the AP Eng test. It seems to me that if someone is not taking a test associated with a class, they should not have to take it - you could make that point, i.e., when he applied, he thought he would self study for it but other things got in the way. And if they say he doesn’t have to take it, I would backstop that by sending an email (i.e., just to confirm as discussed with [x], . . . ).

14

@fretfulmother - Based on your past posts I know you’re very prudent and clearly your son is diligent and careful too. With that in mind, I don’t expect that he’ll follow my advice but I’ll offer it anyway. In my opinion he can skip the test and there will be consequence whatsoever.

15

@midatlmom @sherpa @skieurope - Thank you!

So DS took AP Euro on Friday and felt it went well (either 5 or 4). He also played the voicemail for me that the P person had left in answer to the question (I was wrong and they didn’t talk in person).

The person on the vmail referred to talking to Dean Rapelye and said several times, “if you are taking an AP course, we expect you to take the AP Exam” and also referred to “Euro” specifically. I asked DS, “did you only ask about Euro?” and he said no, he mentioned the English one also. So I said, “save the voicemail and don’t take English” - which I think based on everything, is a safe bet. AP English was, as mentioned, not correlated to a class and was only on the list as a self-study (on Common App finished in October) - in the event that he attended MIT where it can count for an incoming freshman writing requirement.

If someone says, “hey you dishonest bozo, why didn’t you send us an AP Eng score?” then he can reasonably say, “I asked whether I should still take it since I had to miss work and pay but it didn’t count either for school for a course or for a P requirement, and I have the voicemail saying I had to follow through on the AP Euro because it was for a course, but no mention of English, so I didn’t miss work to take it, and I’m sorry.”

Does this seem sensible to the denizens of CC? and LOL @sherpa :slight_smile: with your assessment of whether we’d be so laissez faire!

16

@fretfulmother I feel the pain of APs too, Psywar jr. has 6 APs this year, had 7 last. Luckily, our high school has a option for reduced AP fees, turns out not too many kids use them, so we always ask if there are any waivers left, explaining that while we are not reduced / free lunch qualified, $700 worth of tests is too much for us, and each year he has had the cost cut in half. Pretty great deal. He gets 5s, so the school looks good too, a win-win.

Initially, Princeton’s AP system wasn’t to clear to me, but after talking to them during the Princeton Preview event, I finally understood. Taking the AP tests will provide a few benefits, even if you don’t get class credit. With 5’s you can be placed in upper level courses, or if you have enough AP credits, you can be placed into Advanced Standing, and can graduate a semester or year earlier. That might save you thousands of dollars… Though my son probably wouldn’t want to graduate early, if there was a fiscal issue, it would be nice to have that option.

See the Princeton AP Overview (https://www.princeton.edu/pub/ap/) along with the AP chart (https://www.princeton.edu/pub/ap/table/)

-psy

17

"• I think Princeton’s comment would have more validity if they were MIT or UCB or some other school that does not use the Common App. " The student I had at MIT bowed out of the APs during the final year to focus on certain competitions that were more important. MIT did not have any issue with it.

18

I was just giving an example, not implying that that would be the case. I’m surprised that any college with have an issue with not taking an AP exam but, at least in this case, apparently Princeton did. Anyway, it looks like OP has reached a resolution, and I am sure that it will all work out.

19

@psywar - thanks! Yes, so presumably like your son, my DS has maximized his P-useful AP credits, since he already has 5s in Comp Sci, World Hist, Latin, Physics (C both parts), Calc BC, Stat; and a 4 in APUSH. He just took Chem and takes Bio tomorrow.

From what I gather, he has enough for a year of advanced standing, and his Latin/Stat/CS are useful depending on his major, for world language, economics, or CS requirements respectively. And since in the History category, you can get at most two units (with 4 or 5), the Euro exam was totally a waste. English is not even mentioned.

It’s sort of tricky, because presumably the AP level coursework and performance was a large part of DS’s admission to P in the first place.

Like your son, I’m sure mine would not be enthusiastic about taking a year of advanced standing unless it was absolutely necessary for financial reasons. I know everyone on CC says that four years of P is marvelous and desirable, and I’ve no doubt that is the case, but we’ll have to see how the money is working out, I think.

I didn’t like the way that one does a semester of advanced standing at P - you basically have to get lost for first semester of sophomore year and then rejoin. When I did a semester of AP credit in the dark ages, and similarly my mother in the Bronze Age :wink: - we just graduated in February and started grad school seamlessly, which made more sense.

There aren’t fee waivers at my school unless you’re “qualified” per the federal guidelines, unfortunately!

20

Follow up if anyone is interested: DS got a five on the Euro exam! :slight_smile: