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This question has been asked many times on CC. The answer depends on the college, but AP scores usually have little to no effect on admissions.
I don’t think US colleges do since they don’t ask for, or receive, official scores until after a student is accepted. If they did at all they’d have to rely on self-reported scores.
UK schools do, for US students, or at least did for a friend of my son’s who I guess was borderline for acceptance to a large U in the UK and had to wait until his AP scores came in to get a final decision.
Ask anywhere, get the same answer. AP scores don’t really count for admissions.
However, and this may just be me being paranoid, I feel like AP scores might tip the balance of favor in your direction in some places. After all, if you see a gangload of 5’s versus some 4’s a few 3’s and couple of 2’s, who would you assume is academically stronger? Just my two cents. Admissions people are people too, so they might have their perception colored by those scores.
Or they really don’t care, which is fine with me. No one deciding anything after seeing my abysmal AP Art History score is a-ok with me.
There is a place on the Common App to self report AP scores. On the one hand, since they are self reported I would assume they don’t bear as much weight as official SAT or ACT score reports. On the other hand, if your transcript shows you took AP classes as a freshman/soph/junior and yet you didn’t self report any scores, I would think the adcom would infer you hadn’t scored very well.
Adcoms know that not all schools offer the same rigor, and I truly believe they do not hold a lack of APs against students who did not have an opportunity to take the classes. But for students who do take AP classes I think the adcoms expect to see some sort of report that indicates how well the student performed on the test, even if just self reporting on the Common App.
My D’s High School reports all AP scores on students’ official transcripts whether the students want them reported or not. Those scores are another piece of the puzzle that adcoms see even if they don’t “ask” for it. I think her scores were taken into consideration regarding admissions decisions because the adcoms could see her grades in the AP classes and compare them to her AP scores on the same transcript. The data is staring them in the face, I find it hard to believe that excellent scores (or poor scores) would make no difference. While the GPA and SAT/ACT bear much more weight in the overall picture, the AP scores can make a difference among applications that are otherwise very similar.
Keep in mind that many schools do not offer many/any AP classes, and many that did have stopped doing so for any number of reasons. This includes highly selective high schools that send many of their graduates to top schools with nary an AP score on the transcript.
I would imagine that if a student self reports a bunch of 5’s on AP exams that it would help their overall application
For competitive schools that use “wholistic” admissions strategies, the entire admissions portfolio is relevant. While all schools don’t include AP classes in their curriculum, AP exams are available to anyone. Adding scores adds information to the portfolio. Given two identical students, adding high scores from many AP tests may sway the decision in that student’s favor. But, having a high AIME score and no AP’s may be even better for some schools. Having both might be even better.
@skieurope, I meant that AP scores can make a difference among the applicants who have taken the AP tests (the scores are relevant to the group); and I do understand that a number of rigorous high schools do not offer any APs. I would imagine for the most part that adcoms from very selective colleges know those high schools and are familiar with their rigor. My comment was geared toward students who don’t have access to a rigorous curriculum (and won’t be disadvantaged by not taking APs) and toward students who do take APs (and are wondering if their scores matter). They do matter, not as much as GPA, SAT/ACT, but among similar applicants who have taken AP tests they can make a difference.
There are a couple of schools which use AP scores as an alternative to SAT/ACT scores.