Hi, so today I found out that the top choice for my kid (University of Maryland) lists all of the student’s AP results – even those they do not accept for credit – in the very beginning of the UMD undergraduate transcript. So if you take six APs (for example) and you get maybe a low score, it will list them ALL with the scores and for the ones with low scores (say, Art History was 1 or whatever) that will be right there AT THE TOP OF YOUR TRANSCRIPT with ‘no credit’ next to it. Thanks guys. So I talked to the Registrar and they are like ‘that’s just our policy’ – not in a mean way, but in a firm way. So arguments that it is unfair to the students to list AP scores for which they don’t even get UMD credit didn’t fly. My question is – is there a legal argument one can use against this because if you aren’t giving any credit, why are you listing the scores for no apparent reason? And is this a violation in some way of the student’s rights to his or her own information? Just a shot and I’d be interested if others have won the fight to get AP scores (or any irrelevant information that relates to high school performance) off of college transcripts.
As a practical matter, does it matter, with respect to employers or graduate/professional schools whom you may have to show college transcripts to?
That’s a good question. In real life, I review applications (with transcripts) for admission to a graduate program. And rationally, you wouldn’t care about AP scores. But realistically you are often influenced by the first thing you see on a transcript (and you’re often processing these pretty fast). So that’s one thing. The other point is just it’s ridiculous – why should your college put your high school work on a transcript if they’re not awarding credit … not that life always makes sense of course …
Oh I should note this kid wants to go to law school (as much as you know that in high school) so it would be relevant perhaps to a small degree.
Call the admissions office and tell them that they are violating your rights and you may sue them. See how that helps you chances of acceptance.
Well, as someone who does grad admission I take your point that it helps no one to be demanding in the admissions stage 
You’d be quite surprised at how many people do that. But she’s already in and since I also work at a university I am sympathetic to the people who work there – they don’t set the policy. So I want to see if anyone out there knows which law or regulation might be useful to highlight as a way of saying that high school information (AP scores in this case for which they are not giving credit, they’re just listing them because they were on your admissions file) should not appear on a college transcript.
For law school applications, see https://www.lsac.org/aboutlsac/policies/transcript-summarization on how college records are converted into a standardized form for law schools to use in admissions.
Looks like the College Board allows withholding of specific AP scores from score reports… for a fee.
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/score-reporting/
I don’t know if my daughter’s are on her transcript, but they are on the program the shows the requirements for graduation and how you are meeting them, like English 2000 meets the requirement for ‘writing A’
They are at the bottom, though, not at the top.
It is not realistic to cherry pick your kids scores. Do you think schools should only see the good ones and then ignore the others? That would be like asking a school to ignore a D in a class because all the other classes were A’s and B’s. And it is on the transcript because she took the test. Doesn’t matter why, just that she did.
Solved the problem thanks to usbalumnus. Thanks for helpful comments!
I noticed that my kid’s college lists her AP scores (along with all her entrance exam scores) on her unofficial transcript even though I’m positive she didn’t send the AP score reports to them or designate her college when taking the test. I think her high school must have provided them on her official HS transcript.
My daughter’s AP scores were also on her high school transcript. Wonder how that would work if you “cancel” a score. I never knew you could do this. I also wonder if a college thinks you may have cancelled a score if one doesn’t show up when you didn’t take the test in the first place. Wonder if it matters.
It doesn’t for most colleges.
The won’t think anything. At most colleges, the AP score report goes directly to the registrar’s office for credit processing - admissions never sees it in this case.