<p>Overall, my first AP exam I took during my sophomore year, the biology exam, went terribly due to it being the worst day of my life. My grandparents were losing their jobs (I live with them), it was my first test (nerves), and I just couldn't think. I did way better on my second exam, and every other exam I've gotten a 4 or 5 in. </p>
<p>The fact that I want to apply to CAS for Biological Science does not really show success with a bombed AP score. Is there a way to let them know how bad of a day that was? I mean, I got straight A's in the class, and I have wonderful stats across the board other than that one score. I'm an avid member of the science curriculum here, and do plenty of science related activities... Should I not even bother applying ED because of that score?</p>
<p>imo ap scores don’t matter that much. If your stats on everything else are good and ur ecs are good, apply undecided (you seem like a junior). Applying as a bio major doesn’t help anyways. At all. It is over represented and dominated by premeds. But then again not everything is set in stone. I applied for a bio major as premed and i’m asian so i think i made things harder for myself but in the end it worked out.</p>
<p>They wouldn’t look down upon me for doing applying undecided? Wouldn’t that just make it more difficult if they asked me what I planned to study/do with my life?</p>
<p>Thank you so much, by the way. Yes, I’m a junior.</p>
<p>I applied to Cornell with a 3 in AP Calc BC
I also had a ‘C’ in Introduction to Differential Equations, a course I took at the local college
I applied as a Math major</p>
<p>I believe that they will overlook, to a degree, a bad AP score, or a bad anything for that matter, but it is only to a certain extent. Yes, if you have one blemish, that may be fine, but do not apply to Cornell “Undecided”. The essays are all about “fit”, and it’s really quite difficult to “fit” in without actually having any defined academic interests at all. Also, bear in mind that AP scores play a minimal role in admissions when compared to such things as your actual grade and rec’s, eg if you got a rec from your bio teacher calling you the next Jonas Salk, I don’t think they’d hold a failing AP score against you. Don’t lose heart, most sophomores do not perform spectacularly on their AP Exams in May; it’s normal and you can recover. Just do as well as you can on the rest of your AP’s, and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Edit: Also, if you take the SAT II in Bio, preferably M to show more seriousness, then it should clearly demonstrate to them the reasonableness of your majoring in Biology. Everybody has bad days, so really you’d be best served by trying to show as much as possible how much of a fluke that bad grade was.</p>
<p>^ I agree with most of that post. The most popular choice among accepted students for majors is undecided, though. Just explain why you choose it.</p>