How important is it to have the National AP Scholar Award by the end of junior year?

Applying to College
1

The award requires you to have taken 8 AP tests and have gotten scores of 4 or higher on them. How much would not having the award impact admissions chances at selective schools?

I’m currently in my junior year and will have taken 6 AP tests by the end of it. Is it worth the time and effort to self-study 2 more just to get the award? Thanks in advance for your help.

2

No. The award itself ranks up there with your Good Citizenship medal; it won’t impact college admissions decisions.

Now whether there is value self studying for the increased AP credits is another question.

3

No. It’s a dumb award. It depresses me that one could even spend just two months self studying on top of a regular schedule and have the equivalent of a college level class. My oldest got into Harvard without it. (He did qualify when senior years scores came in after he graduated.)

4

My daughter had 6 APs (with 5) by the end of junior year and got into Stanford just fine. Unless the two extra APs add something else than this award to your application, I would think you’re better off trying to get great scores on the ones for which you’re actually taking the classes (and still more importantly, great GRADES in the classes themselves).

5

My daughter got into Cornell for the upcoming year without it…

6

I think those AP Scholar awards are ways to get you to take more AP classes.

This is what Stanford thinks about AP scores:

For example, Stanford says:
Students currently enrolled in AP courses are not required to submit AP scores as part of our admission process. AP scores that are reported are acknowledged but rarely play a significant role in the evaluation of an application. Grades earned over the course of a term, or a year, and evaluations from instructors who can comment on classroom engagement provide us with the most detailed insight into a student’s readiness for the academic rigors of Stanford.
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/prepare.html

Stanford:
We expect applicants to pursue a reasonably challenging curriculum, choosing courses from among the most demanding courses available at your school. We ask you to exercise good judgment and to consult with your counselor, teachers and parents as you construct a curriculum that is right for you. Our hope is that your curriculum will inspire you to develop your intellectual passions, not suffer from unnecessary stress. The students who thrive at Stanford are those who are genuinely excited about learning, not necessarily those who take every single AP or IB, Honors or Accelerated class just because it has that designation.

Don’t take AP tests just to take AP tests. Take AP classes because you are interested in the topic

7

Echoing everyone else: I think potentially important issues can be: 1) the school counselor marks `most rigorous schedule’, and 2) class rank, which can depend upon number of AP classes taken (check your high school policies on how (and if) self-studied APs impact weighted GPA).

The fact that a class like AP Chem and AP US Gov count the same towards these AP awards show that they are by themselves meaningless

6 APs at the end of junior year could be:

AP Chinese/Spanish (for a chinese/spanish speaking person)
AP: CS Principles
AP Environmental Science
AP US Gov
AP Comparative Gov
AP Statistics

or they could be
AP World History

AP US History
AP Calc BC
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
AP English Literature

I am sure admission officers know the difference in rigor of schedule.