Hi everyone, if I could get any prefrosh or college students to help answer this that would be great! I understand most colleges are okay with you self reporting your score, but what happens when you enroll? Are you required to send in your official AP score report or is it only if you want credit? I don’t really want to use my ap scores for credit and would rather retake the classes in college with professors for a stronger foundation as im planning to go into some type of engineering. Thanks!
You will need to check the policy for the school in which you matriculate.
I know this isn’t what you asked, but you may want to reconsider retaking everything. My D was an engineering student and used all her non stem AP classes for her general education requirements so she could free up room in her schedule for courses she really wanted to take. Also, at some schools the intro classes are graded in a way to weed people out so skipping ahead may be more helpful for your GPA.
IMO, if your AP scores are strong enough to self report on your application, I’d send the official score report to the school you will be attending.
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I did but the polices were a little unclear and I wanted to see if I could get any different perspectives before I email admissions for confirmation. I’ll definitely keep what you said in mind though!
And at most schools, just because you send in the score report, doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t retake the class. And at some schools, you still need to take their own placement tests regardless of the AP score, even if it’s a 5.
If you are comfortable sharing the names of the schools, you may get more specific answers here.
Good point! A few of the reaches/dreams that I don’t have concrete answers for are Carnegie, Georgia Tech, Cornell, MIT, Stanford and UMich.
I can speak to Cornell - They require all official score reports for anything you self reported on the common app. BUT, it’s totally up to you if you use your AP credit or not.
“Advanced placement or transfer credit enables students to begin their college studies at an advanced level. Each student must judge their own ability to handle a demanding academic program. The advisability of accepting credit depends on many personal factors, such as the extent of study skills, the activities students wish to engage in during their first year, and the thoroughness of their preparation. Whether to accept advanced placement—or take the corresponding course—is a decision for which the student, alone, is responsible.”
I’m guessing at most schools - submitting for admissions and then taking credit (where offered) or placement (where offered) - will be voluntary.
Kids like to take the credit for saving money and schooling but then many are told, repeat core classes.
It’s school by school - but i would use what benefits you for admission - as it’s a benefit and those are high level schools - and then go from there once you decide to attend. I would keep the admission and how it impacts me once attending separate.
One step at a time - and you need to get in first.
MIT says this - most don’t get credit but these can and can impact placement - doesn’t mean it has to - and they have an email to ask questions on the last line - i suspect most/all schools will too - so use that.
A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.
A score of 5 on the Calculus AB exam allows you to enroll in the accelerated Calculus sequence of 18.01A/18.02A.
A score of 5 on both Physics C exams—Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism—will grant you credit for 8.01. No credit will be given for the Physics 1 and 2 exams separately.
A score of 5 on any AP exams listed in the College Board’s categories of Arts, English, History & Social Sciences, and World Languages & Cultures earn 9 units each of unrestricted elective credit**.
A score of 5 on both of the Capstone exams – AP Seminar and AP Research, earns a total of 9 units of unrestricted elective credit**. No credit is given for AP Environmental Science or Statistics exams.
Advanced Placement credit cannot be used to satisfy any part of the HASS Requirement.
In addition to earning 9 units of unrestricted elective credit**, a score of 5 on either
the English Language and Composition or English Literature and Composition exam places you in the “CI-H/CI-HW Required” category without taking the First Year Essay Evaluation (FEE).
You are still required to take a Communication-Intensive subject (CI-HW or CI-H) your first year as part of the Communication Requirement. Students with scores lower than 5 on either exam should take the FEE or plan to complete a CI-HW subject.
Address questions not answered here regarding MIT’s policies and procedures on credit for Advanced Placement scores to ap@mit.edu.
So once you enroll you send in the report, but its up to you on if you want to use it for credit?
Each school may be different. Read the MIT instructions - one is very definitive. ..third from bottom in the previous message.
For math/science, I can’t imagine any school will force those.
My bigger point is - these schools are all reaches.
You have to get in.
If it will help with admission, I’d use it.
But check each school’s policy. Google the school + AP scores and you’ll find it.
I checked MIT’s policy and they made clear they wanted SAT/ACT which makes sense but AP was left a bit unclear for after enrollment. You’re right though the hard part is getting in lol. I’ll worry about the report when it gets to that stage!
At my school (UT-Austin,) I do think they accept AP scores as part of the application (I didn’t submit mine,) but you don’t have to claim them for credit. They intentionally put up a couple of barriers to petition your scores for credit, mostly so that pre-health students don’t accidentally accept a credit that would harm them in a future med school application. You have to pay $10 per credit-hour, and you have to choose if you want to accept the credit for each specific class. I only accepted the science/English credits I didn’t need (I’m a government major.) While this obviously isn’t directly applicable to any of your requested reaches, I imagine at least Georgia Tech and UMich are pretty similar, and I suspect the others would only make it more difficult to accept the credit.
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Most schools seem to have a different process for credit vs what you submit for admission consideration - at least the schools my kids attended and looked at. My son didn’t report any AP scores (it was Covid days so 2020 tests were a trainwreck). He did end up submitting his Calc BC score for credit once he was admitted. First figure out if scores help your application (or are required to be self reported) than once you pick school figure out what makes sense for credit.
Stanford requires you submit if you take the test.
- AP exams are not mandatory; however, if you have taken any AP exams, you are required to self-report all your AP scores in your application.