S is rising senior and has AP scores : 3 5s and 6 4s. The 4s are in Physics C, Bio, Chem and Calc BC and Research. He has As from school for these subjects and working on a strong research project likely to publish. He is interested in Stanford(Symbolic Systems) and Electrical/Radio Communication Engg. in other T20s like Yale, Princeton etc. How much of a factor does his AP score play in admissions to these top schools ?
He doesn’t have to submit AP scores at all until he is accepted…if the college offers credit and he wants it.
He doesn’t need to submit when he applies.
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Thank you. That’s a huge relief.
Here are links to the current AP credit & placement policies for all eight Ivy League universities plus Stanford for entering first-year students:
Brown AP policy, Columbia College regulations, Cornell credit-by-exam table, Dartmouth placement and credit guidance, Harvard placement and score instructions, Penn advanced-placement policy, Princeton AP guidance, Stanford AP, and Yale acceleration-credit table.
I’ll play devil advocate. If you don’t submit, the question as to why may be asked. Why take the class but not submit a score ?
I think the 4s are fine. I’d submit.
Others may disagree. The student is not going to be denied because of those scores.
Or look at the school’s equivalence table - what do they give credit for ? While you can submit in a year, I’d show them you are at their level now.
I think not submitting could bring doubt or concern. Others would say if not submitted they can’t be evaluated.
But people are human and one would be curious. Did they get a 1, 2, or 3?
Of course every school may handle it differently. So you likely won’t get a one size fits all answer.
But I don’t think 3 5s and 6 4s would be the reason for rejection. I do think 9 classes thus far and no score could be.
What does this mean? The highest AP score is a 5.
Many students don’t submit AP scores until after acceptance. For AP classes taken senior year, the student won’t even have their scores.
I fixed my dyslexia as you wrote. I saw my error. Thx.
Many don’t as it costs and there’s a lot of schools.
But the question asked was should they or rather how much do they play in?
Yale, as an example, encourages it. So you run the risk that I brought up of them thinking an inferior score in not doing so.
“If you have completed AP or IB exams, you may include the scores of your choosing in the testing section of your application along with your ACT or SAT score(s). Including AP or IB scores is not required but is encouraged for students who have completed AP- or IB-designated coursework. Applicants may submit predicted IB scores, if available, but these are not required.”
Though this is true for 12th grade AP scores received in July after high school graduation, students can opt to self-report all AP scores in the Common Application, which is accepted by the entire Ivy League & Stanford. Submitting AP scores from before 12th grade, whether unofficial or official, in the Common Application is entirely optional.
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I wrote 3 5’s and 6 4’s. Is this not what you are seeing?
Another poster switched around the numbers…not you! It’s been corrected.
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Yes she’s responding to my dyslexic response. I was fixing as she wrote.
See my note - I would absolutely submit to Yale. That’s my opinion based on their encouragement. You should read each school’s policy.
I don’t see the scores as sub optimal anyway.
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I will look into this. Tysm.
No matter his record, prepare for him to be rejected by all of those schools. They all receive FAR more fully qualified students than they can accept. If they get in, hooray. If they don’t it will simply be an odds game. They all reject most of the applications they receive from valedictorians.
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@K_Ch you can make the decision whether to submit…or not. At the Ivies and Stanford, if your student doesn’t get accepted, you will never know why. The acceptance rates are very low at these colleges.
So…do what you want to do.
I do agree that the 4 and 5 scores are fine. It sounds like you are concerned because this student doesn’t have all 5 AP scores. I’d put that aside.
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Yes, I know that acceptance rates are very low. But want to know if the AP scores factor into these and we should rethink applying just because of this factor.
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You could ask that question if you had 1-2s.
It’s not a valid question when you have 4s and 5s and high rigor.
He should apply at schools he wants to attend, and ensure he has an affordable safety.
A 1 AP wouldn’t stop me if I was otherwise qualified but 4s and 5s are solid.
There’s zero reason not to apply in this case should the schools make budget and other metrics align.
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Just to clarify, these are credit & placement policies & nothing to do with first-year admission policies. AP subjects & exam scores are not required to gain admission to any of Ivy League universities. (EXCEPTION: Stanford University has made it required to self-report all AP scores, per skieurope’s post). On the Common Application, an applicant may opt to report unofficial scores, ones that will be confirmed with official scores, if the applicant is admitted & enrolls. It is incorrect that only students with multiple “4’s” and “5’s” get admitted just as only students taking 15+ AP classes will get admitted or only valedictorians and salutatorians will get admitted. FALSE ASSUMPTIONS! Not all high schools offer can all available AP subjects.
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Not required but as Yale notes -I put above - they ‘encourage’ you to submit if you’ve taken.
So if you don’t submit, to me that’s saying it may be held against you.
Technically they don’t even know if you took the test but they know ……
But you need to look at each school’s policy. Gtown would be another that doesn’t require but makes clear they want to see it.
Regardless of his AP scores, these are all highly competitive for admissions. We have NO idea what the rest of his application “stuff” looks like…GPA, course rigor (it’s not only about AP courses), SAT or ACT scores, ECs, LOR, essays.
The strength of his application is NOT just about AP scores. There are a lot of other important factors.
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Well, Yale is going to evaluate the list of coursework on the official transcript. If the AP classes are designated as such, Yale admissions will know. If Yale explicitly recommends submitting AP scores, then I would submit all scores. This policy may have been revised from previous admission cycles pre-pandemic.