<p>I got 5s on all 3 AP exams I took two years ago, but I got one 5 and three 4's on APs this past year. One of the 4's was in a subject I plan to major in, though I got a good grade in the class and my teacher from that class will write me a recommendation for college.</p>
<p>Will this hurt me? I am applying to several Ivies, which includes my current first choice school.</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, they don’t consider them at all. It would give an unfair advantage to those in wealthy neighborhoods who have access to make APs. That should ease your mind.</p>
<p>And besides, 3s are very good. They aren’t stellar, but at a lot of schools, you can get credit for 3s. According to the college board, a 3 and above is considered qualified. </p>
<p>Great, thanks!</p>
<p>Anyone saying highly selective colleges don’t at all consider AP test scores is wrong. AP test scores are considered by highly selective colleges, although they have very little weight. That in no way gives an advantage to those who are able to take more AP tests because it’s not like admissions officers add up all your scores (for example, “this kid got a 4 on 18 tests, so their total is 72, but this kid got a 5 on 5 tests, so their total is only 25, the first kid must be a much better student than the second kid.” would never happen). They want to see if you did well on the tests that you took; they aren’t going to compare the number of tests you took to other kids. My school only offers 8 APs, while I know other schools in my town that offer 15. Students aren’t penalized for that. A Yale admissions officer told me that she does look at AP scores; however, they virtually never move an applicant from the accept to the reject pile or vice versa. And a 4 is a great score! Especially on some tests (like Bio- only like 6% of kids get a 5), a 4 shows strong understanding of the subject.</p>
<p>@430ktk They are not considered. They won’t consider something in admissions that outright excludes a large amount of students. It isn’t considered.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats why is it excluding students? I don’t think you understand why I’m saying it’s not excluding people. For example, if I send in extra letters of recommendation, they will be considered, despite other applicants not having them. It doesn’t exclude those other students. Same with additional tests. If my school only requires the ACT and I send in additional SAT Subject Tests, those will be considered, but that practice in no way excludes other students. Same thing for AP tests. If you took AP tests, they want to see you did well on them, just like any other part of your application. I just don’t understand how you think they’re excluding people by looking at AP scores. It’s not like they just admit the kids with the most 5s. Why on earth would a Yale admissions officer talk to me about AP tests if they aren’t considered? </p>
<p>@430ktk It excludes students because not all students have access to AP classes. That would give an unfair advantage to those who go to schools who receive better funding and an unfair advantage to those who could afford to take more exams.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats but that’s assuming that schools just accept kids who have the most 5s, which I just said is NOT true. If you had the opportunity to take APs, colleges want to see you did well. Here is another example: Harvard does not require SAT IIs for low income applicants, but does recommend that they are submitted. They definitely look at those scores expect their applicants to do well on the subject tests they submit, despite not all applicants submitting scores. And again, a Yale admissions officer explicitly told me that she looks at applicants’ AP scores. You never mention anything from admissions officers. Regardless, obviously you are determined that you are correct and I am not, but you are not the one whose question I am attempting to answer. OP, AP scores do matter. A quick google search should prove that if you can’t believe me. A 4 is a great score, so you have no reason to be worried that it will effect your admissions chances.</p>
<p>From Yale’s website: “In the Testing section of your Common Application, you are given the option of self-reporting test results. Whether or not you choose to report your SAT, SAT Subject Test or ACT scores there, we suggest that you list all your AP scores. This may be the only place that we will see those test results.”</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats There are endless examples of activities and academics that rich kids get to put on their college applications that poor kids never even had a chance to try. Why would a college draw the line at AP scores? I’m with everyone else here; the colleges are interested in knowing about AP scores.</p>
<p>@430ktk @Suzy100 @ScienceGirlMom K. </p>
<p>Slightly off topic. I think that holistic admissions is worse for poor kids than straight up numerical based admissions would be, I read somewhere that 17% of top sat scorers are from the bottom quintile (or quartile), far better than their representation at most elite colleges, grades are even less correlated with ses than the sat. Colleges say they value typical poor kid EC’s (like part time jobs, taking care of family, helping at home) as much as rich kid activities (expensive clubs (fbla), expensive music, expensive and exotic sports, service trips, more free time to do clubs/EC’s), but I doubt they do in reality based on te numbers (though the sticker price also chases away some poorer applicants even if it would be reduced for them). In my opinion elite colleges actually have a soft spot for privileged kids even if they’re not legacies because demographically they’re probably more likely to donate back to the school and with the well-placed family and social connections they already have they’re more likely to succeed in real life and uphold/raise the college prestige. Plus it’s natural for human tendency to favor someone who took advantage of their opportunities than someone who had no opportunities because you can’t say for sure they would have.
Unfornutaley (not for me but for poor kids), ap scores likely work the same way. 10 5s on 10 exams look better than no exams even if they were not available, after all no guarantee that the kid would have done as well on the exams if (s)he had the opportunity. It is just natural human tendency. I think really who gets a boost in admissions is the disadvantaged who makes something out of nothing, self-studies for AP’s maybe, makes charities to help people in similar situation, or takes university classes if their school has no college level classes. Unfortunately the kid with no ap classes at his school who didn’t go out of his or her way likely gets hurt to a degree, even most of the kids who were able to take lots of ap exams wouldn’t have done any better. In fact, at the info session for Columbia an adcom said something along those lines (wanted to see kids with few ap classes in their school go take college classes, beat the adversity (she mentioned travel/distance as one to beat).
To answer op’s question, even though I personally think 5s are easy enough to get already ( the raw scores needed for a 5 usually would get a B or a C in a college class … ), adcoms likely still think 4s are good, so you won’t be hurt much if at all. They may also judge the scores in the context of how well your school prepares it’s students for those ap exams, if your school does really well it might harm you a little but if your school’s preparation is evidently poor your 4s might actually look good.</p>