AP scores for admission

[HiPeople]

<p>I read that last year MIT did not really consider the writing score as part of the admissions process. What about AP scores? How much weight do you think they generally carry? I've heard different resposes from other posts: some say its just for placement after you get accepted and some say its very important because it levels everyone in the country on an even playing field. </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>I think it’s somewhere in between – they don’t require your official scores, so it can’t be that important, but at the same time, APs certainly matter.</p>

<p>Ben Jones (who used to be an admissions officer at MIT) posted this on CC a few years ago ([link](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1278678-post49.html]link[/url]):”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1278678-post49.html)):</a>

@benjones

Based on the thousands of apps I saw last year both in selection committee and as a reader, I can tell you that the average # of AP’s for admitted kids was 5 or 6 (that’s total for all 4 years of HS - i.e. 1-2 per year if evenly distributed). Many admits (most likely the majority) had no college classes. The most common AP’s taken were in math and science (no surprise, it’s MIT). The overwhelming majority got 4’s and 5’s on all tests.</p>

<p>I’ll pause here to add that I frequently saw kids with perfect SAT scores and perfect grades and a gazillion AP classes get rejected. Why? Because often these kids knew how to grind, but brought nothing else to the table. And that’s not who we’re looking for at MIT. We admit kids who show genuine passion. Sure AP’s can be one of many passion indicators - but I emphasize one of many.</p>

<p>When I was on the road, kids asked me repeatedly whether or not they should take a given AP class.</p>

<p>“Well,” I’d respond, “would you be taking it because you genuinely want to, or simply because you think it will get you into college?”</p>

<p>Sometimes they didn’t know the difference, which is a tragedy that deserves its own thread. But I digress.</p>

<p>And this is where you all start saying that adcoms are talking out of both sides of our mouths: we encourage kids to follow their hearts in the choices they make, and then as adcoms we want to see that they’ve taken “the most challenging courseload.”</p>

<p>To which I say: guys, I work for MIT! If a kid doesn’t want to be taking a challenging courseload in high school, that kid is certainly not going to be happy here.</p>

<p>Quite simply, the students who are happiest here are those who thrive on challenge. Most of our admits have taken AP math and science because they would have been bored silly in the regular classes. Indeed, they genuinely wanted to take those classes. They don’t look at MIT as the prize; they look at MIT as the logical next step. It’s an important distinction.</p>

<p>That said, AP’s are not the only way to demonstrate that one is passionate and likes challenge. Read Anthony’s story for an example:
<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/hello_im_anthony.shtml[/url]”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/hello_im_anthony.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>When faced with the choice, we will always choose “the right match*” over numbers. We’re not lying when we say that. You’ve heard me beat that sentiment to death in other threads, so I won’t do so here.</p>

<p>(*Match = mission, collaborative spirit, hands-on, balance, character, and passion, among others.)</p>

<p>But the reality is that when you have 10,500+ applications for ~1000 spots and 70% of the pool has great numbers, your pool is going to have plenty of kids who have the passion and the match and the scores/grades/AP’s. So we admit those kids - what other choice do we have?</p>

<p>But then (understandably) you guys say “Look! You need X, Y, and Z to get into MIT!” To clarify, we don’t require those things; many of our admits just happen to have them. And, I might add, for the right reasons.

</p>