<p>At Duke....</p>
<p>Just don’t send them if your worried about it. It is my belief you do not have to tell any college your AP scores till after the admissions process. Many students do include them under an additional information area though.</p>
<p>^true,but this might raise an eyebrow if they saw you took AP____ and never reported the score</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters. My D doesn’t want to take 7 tests in order to get 2 credits at Duke. Not to mention, they will only accept 4’s and 5’s so you may have to prep. Also at my D’s high school you have to pay $87 per test. So really for her it isn’t worth it. She reported no scores on her application and will only be taking the Spanish AP test this May (for foreign language placement only). She reported a future test date on her application for the Spanish only, so they will probably realize why she is doing what she is doing. Also, she said she’d rather take 2 more classes at Duke anyway and learn something more important than she learned in the AP classes.</p>
<p>I spoke to an admissions officer over a year ago at duke, and she told me that if you have outstanding AP scores, then they will consider that in the process, however low scores will not hurt your chances. That being said, taking the AP courses (or IB courses) itself if a very large factor into admissions, as they show the admissions committee that you challenged yourself in high school (dubbed high school course rigor). You should be taking as many AP’s as you can without spreading yourself too thin, nuff said.</p>
<p>Totally do not agree that AP scores don’t matter. They are factors in any college with over 25 thousand applicants for what will end up being a 1600 member class. Anyone not bothering to show their stuff on SAT Subject tests or AP exams when they have had a strong high school is going to raise eyebrows. Testing at Duke is H-A-R-D since the students to your left and right are champion test-takers. Preparation is the norm. That and a portion of Duke students who don’t have to worry about rote learning at all because they are so very bright and so motivated and attentive. </p>
<p>Admissions officers look at AP scores in the context of opportunities available to each student. Sometimes they will admit students with middling AP scores who attend weaker high schools or are first generation college or who work for money many hours a week etc. Duke works hard to give opportunities to deserving students.
Example: my Duke 09 son had all 5s, but when he applied he had only 2 of those! His high school had a 50% dropout rate and very weak AP instruction. He made up for this by acing three SATIIs based on his own preparation to demonstrate that he was ready for Duke’s rigor. One of his best friends at Duke came home with him fall break. Now in a top med school, in contrast this young man had 11 APs of 5s and 4s when he applied to Duke. His very successful public high school was so competitive that students were taking courses at the community college to increase their chances of being in the top 5% of their class since their entire community was college bound. </p>
<p>The admissions staff looks at all supplementary test scores within context, including factors like if your life is highly devoted to the arts, or a sport or another time consuming worthwhile pursuit. It isn’t too late to take Subject tests if you are RD, and recommend you read the books and take a couple of these one hour exams. My son now at Vandy retook one of those in January of his senior year (just too tired in October) and sent it in. He won a merit scholarship. So many of our local kids do not take these supplementary exams seriously.</p>
<p>Last point: my son was not interested in accelerating at Duke, skipping requirements and entry courses etc. It came in handy when he double majored to have a few APs, since he earned a few more senior year, but this is a personal decision. Skipping a level of Calculus or Chem is sometimes a bad idea, and each college culture is entirely different on such matters. He ditched taking his foreign language SATII because he wanted to start a new language up at Duke anyway, which turned out to be an immensely enjoyable aspect of his life there. For Vandy son, placing out of language via his SATII was a blessing. APs are an opportunity to demonstrate self discipline and taking responsibility to master material. It is true that they can be of dubious value for “skipping ahead” although some students in public schools I hear skip tons of requirments and save money doing so.</p>