I have seen so much debate on if they do or not. I’m thinking that a good score can’t hurt? But idk? Perhaps they matter more this year if you didn’t submit an SAT/ACT score?? I “self-studied” an AP because it went with my interests and my school didn’t offer it but now I guess my score doesn’t matter too much haha.
Do your best on AP tests because you may get college credit. For self-studied courses, it is much more important to do well on your HS courses than self-studied. Most colleges don’t take into account your AP test scores for admissions as you may take them after you are admitted (senior year)
For example:
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.
Let me state clearly: we do not admit students solely because of their AP courses/scores. There is no minimum or recommended number of AP courses. AP scores are not part of an admission formula… What we are saying is that, despite what you may have heard, college admissions isn’t a game of whoever has the most APs, wins.
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Berkeley explicitly says that they consider AP scores.
I have heard other admission officers say that they look at everything on your application. The unanswered question is how much weight do they have.
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If you want me to be honest with you, EVERYTHING MATTERS, and yes, even AP scores. Positive AP Scores (scores of 4 and 5) definitely help you stand out and may even get you an award! So for these top 20 schools, yes they count.
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They can matter, depending on the college. How much they matter also depends on the college.
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I had a college specifically request my AP test scores as supplemental documentation after my application had already been in for over a month.
I was only able to send 3 as I am currently taking my other 3 APs now. But still…they definitely wanted to see them.
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Which school is that? Can you share please? I know Princeton wants score of all subjects taken.
That makes me happy! I am proud of my AP scores LMAO
If you want me to be honest with you, EVERYTHING MATTERS, and yes, even AP scores
For admissions? The Admissions Officer at CMU told us specifically “AP tests are for Placement. It’s in the name. Our admissions staff don’t even see AP scores in the admissions decision-making process”. Other schools have mentioned similar thoughts - maybe it’s just the schools we are looking at.
They can be useful in freeing up time for additional electives or advanced coursework. While it’s possible to “save money by graduating early”, this is available much less frequently than some may think.
With 5 million AP tests taken each year, you’re not really standing out by taking them. If you mean the AP Scholar Awards, those really aren’t worth much more than the paper on which they are printed, IMO.
Just taking them won’t make you stand out. If a student consistently receives high scores on them, it may reflect positively. Key word here is “may.” Think about it like this, the difficulty of an AP Class throughout the US varies. As a result, a student in NY may get an 85 in an AP Class but a 5 on its AP Exam counterpart. On the other hand, a student in Texas could get a 95 in an AP Class while also getting a 5 on the exam. The initial 85 may be a red flag to admissions, especially for a top school, but the 5 could make up for it and display that the material was difficult in the class but it prepared the student well. Of course, we can keep on going with these hypotheticals, but I would still tell the person who started this thread and other students that they should try their best on AP Exams, but of course, other exams such as the SAT/ACT matters more.
apologies for the spelling/grammar mistakes if there are any. I welcome you to chip in and correct me if I’m wrong.
I’d imagine that they are not going to get you in. But they might be a red flag if you got 1-3 and have A’s in every class. Probably good if you have 4’s and 5’s and solid grades so there’s a mathc.
Seems like many kids don’t have access to APs’ ( or are limited) while others take every class as AP from Freshman year.
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I agree, they’re not going to guarantee you getting in, but it may help in certain situations like the one you mentioned.
I’m a little surprised that certain basic things have not been mentioned so far in this thread, perhaps they are obvious but let me repeat them, just for the record:
- many schools, especially state schools, will allow you to skip some classes if you have APs with a score of 4 or 5, and that could lead to saving of money and time needed to graduate
- Stanford doesn’t want to accept robots racing for the highest number of APs so they put out a very commonsensical statement about that; but all top colleges, in one form or another, also state that they consider the most demanding curriculum choices in their admission decisions; if your school offers some non-APs that are the most rigorous, that would certainly diminish the importance of APs for you but for most HS students, APs represent the highest level of available classes = the rigor the colleges are looking for.
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My kiddo thought the AP scores wouldn’t matter, so we didn’t send them (She has 5s & one 4 on a class that doesn’t give credit at most schools). Do you think it’s too late to bother? She’s RD for a couple Ivies, but UCB et al prob have gone thru apps a good bit already.
It may be a bit too late but don’t stress about it. Berkeley considers them but not that much
The context was in application/acceptance. I suspect everyone understands these post-enrollment advantages.
I’m not so sure what “everyone understands” on this forum.
If I stated something completely obvious to everyone, apologies. I found a lot of incomplete/confusing/unsubstantiated information on many threads so it seems that common knowledge is not quite so common. But if you think otherwise, I respect it.