I heard from another student that colleges do not consider AP scores. Is this true? Do colleges base more of admissions on SAT II’s or AP’s?
<p>colleges cannot require APs because not all high schools offer AP courses. But AP scores are much more predictive of college success than SAT II scores. So yes, ad coms will use them if they have them. More discussion here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75510%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75510</a></p>
<p>The biggest thing that adcoms care about is taking the most challenging curriculum possible, after that gpa/rank, and after that standardized test scores. The SAT I is most important, then SAT II's. After an applicant qualifies on academic grounds, they look at EC's, essays, and recs. (Large public universities are more numbers driven.)</p>
<p>AP scores are not as important as the SAT II's. Very few application forms have spaces for you to report the scores. The common app doesn't. Taking the AP courses, if available, is very important since that shows you are taking a challenging curriculum. The exam scores are much less important. For one thing, the scale used is so rudimentary. A 3.99 is a 3 and a 4.01 is a 4? </p>
<p>If you have all 5's, then have the College Board send the scores so they are in your folder. 5's and 4's are good. 3's should not be reported. (If you are applying to a school where a 3's is good, then they aren't selective enough to care anyway.)</p>
<p>There is a lot of discussion in some newspaper articles about the value of the scores and whether the course is valuable if you don't take the exam, but the effects on adcoms is debatable. If you have all 5's, or all 5's' and 4's, have the score report sent.</p>
<p>Rachel Toor, former Duke ad com, writes about AP scores on p. 92-93 of College Confidential:</p>
<p>"Although the scores on the (AP) tests were meant, originally, for placement into higher level college courses and were not intended to be used in college admissions, they are. We expect students to score 5s on their tests. If they get a couple of 4s, that's okay, but anything below a 4 doesn't help much. We don't require that students report these scores for admission; if they do, however, we use them. I always told students that if they scored below a 4, not to report it to us."</p>
<p>Michele Hernandez, former Dartmouth adcom, says on pp. 119-120 of Acing the College Application:</p>
<p>"The second key point (and this is a major flaw of the common application) is that you will notice there is no space at all for either AP or IB scores. That might give you the impression that these scores don't count, but that is not the case. In fact, since both AP and IB tests are considered the most difficult and collegelike tests around, colleges sometimes weigh these even more heavily than SAT Is and SAT IIs.... A strong showing on these tests can counterbalance less than stellar scores elsewhere... Do not leave out these scores even if they are not perfect." (she recommends putting them in the blank space to the right of the score listings on the Common App. and drawing a box around them so that they are easily spotted.</p>
<p>I agree with Toors who is saying not to report anything below a 4. Hernandez has said a bunch of stuff I haven't agreed with. In "A is for Admissions", she spends chapter 1 explaining to high schooler that since a lot of the adcom members are not Ivy League graduates, the applicants have to understand that they are being judged by people who are not as smart as they are (or her). Hernandez heavily believes in the system. Adcoms are the guardians of Social Darwinism and there is no higher goal than to be accepted to an Ivy. Of course, she is going to believe in AP scores. If a person misses getting a 4 by one question, they don't deserve to be accepted.</p>
<p>for UC's SAT II is more important than SAT I because they actually care about what you learn.</p>
<p>So, if I were to apply for a selective school and chose Biology, but my music theory score was a 3, w/ subscores of 2 and 4, should i withhold it or not? Which is better?</p>
<p>oh, and if i do withhold, will they know that i took the ap test or not?</p>
<p>Please help!</p>
<p>The college board website on AP score reporting is:
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html</a>
I was surprised when I looked at this since the deadline to withhold scores is June 15th. I don't understand why that date is so early. </p>
<p>I really don't think the AP score would be a deciding factor. No college requires that the scores be sent. Only a few apps have spaces on the form for the scores. Whether to send the scores at all is a judgment call. Obviously if you have all 5's, you want to let them know. Obviously, if you have all 3's, you don't want them to know. The problem is when you have three 5's and a 2. To send or not to send? If you think that an AP score is going to really affect their decision, then you'd have to believe they would take an applicant with all A's and 3 B's over an applicant with all A's and 4 B's. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>No but it says u can just withhold one of the grades. So if i just withhold this one music theory one, while all my other grades are good, then does it matter?</p>
<p>It says that you can't without it after June 15th. I would not worry about a 3 in a course like music when you are going to major in bio. A 3 is not that bad anyway.</p>