I haven’t taken the SAT yet. I saw on their website (both Oxford and St. Andrew) that there was a requirement of AAA for example for a course, and that this translated to four to five 5s. Are the 5s I have what they will use for that requirement, or do they look at all the scores you have? In regards to the interview, yes, I am aware of how selective it is. I have watched a few mock interviews, and have read about the process. My main question would be if my scores are enough to get me through the door.
Yes, thank you. I am planning on taking a few more tests, and hope to get a 5 on those. From what I’ve read, I think AP Human Geography is an elective AP, so I’m wondering if my scores in core history tests like AP World History will mitigate it a bit.
I guess my main question would be if my scores are enough to get me through the door at Oxford and St. Andrew’s.
I thought that question had been answered already - most likely yes, but what happens after you get through the door is different at Oxford.
Okay. Sorry, I haven’t read through the thread as much since yesterday, so I might have missed that.
The standard Oxford requirement for History is AAA. As a US applicant, you can satisfy that with four AP 5s or three AP 5s and the appropriate ACT/SAT score. 5s in AP World and US History are going to be helpful. Unsure on which others you would use to satisfy the AP criteria.
“Getting through the door” at Oxford means being shortlisted for interview. Since there is no admissions test for History, my instinct is that your written work will take on more importance. Speaking only for the Maths admissions process, the Mathematical Institute is very dubious of the “informative value” of APs/SAT in their shortlisting process. They relied a lot on the MAT results in making those decisions. But you don’t have something like that for History.
With almost 3 out of 4 applicants being shortlisted, my hunch is that with a decent application and strong written work, you have a good shot of making that first cut.
3 Likes
Interestingly the description the history department gives makes it sound like it is only grades that are used for shortlisting, with the written work assessed as part of the interview process. I would guess this is because part of the interview is discussing the submission.
2 Likes
So for Oxford, say, they have a section for each course where it lists certain subjects as Required, Recommended, or Relevant. My understanding is for Required courses, you would usually need an AP 5 in that subject. For Recommended or Relevant, it would be reasonable to assume related APs would be considered more important. But that is getting into the discretion of the tutors who will decide who they want to interview.
So for History, it looks like nothing is listed as Required or Relevant, but then under Recommended it says:
It is highly recommended for applicants to have History to A-level, Advanced Higher, Higher Level in the IB or another equivalent.
So, yes, I would consider it likely they would look at your AP World History score as particularly important, since it is presumably what you are using to satisfy this recommendation.
St Andrews basically works the same way, but in a more concise fashion. So for History, they make it clear you need an A in History, which for you would again presumably be satisfied by your AP World History 5.
ETA: By the way, once you have enough AP 5s, including in any Required/Recommended/Relevant subjects, I think the usual advice is to be cautious about taking more APs unnecessarily. If you basically need to for US purposes, OK. But for UK admissions purposes, there is unlikely to be any marginal benefit to more 5s, and so you are risking non-5s for very little purpose.
2 Likes
FWIW, my son took AP Micro/Macro his senior year of HS. Really not applicable to Maths/CS. His offer went unconditional in January once he submitted SAT & AP scores to Oxford via College Board. His college never asked for a final HS transcript or the scores from those senior year APs that came out in July post-HS graduation.
3 Likes
OP, will you be taking ACT/SAT or are you going test-optional for the US? Because those scores will need to be reported on UCAS if taken regardless if you don’t need them to satisfy admission requirements.
1 Like
I will be taking the SAT.
1 Like