I agree with the old timers here but with a twist and coming from a friend that is a college advisor. My son had a 34 Act with 35s in math and science. He took 6 APs one year with Calc 3 as his 7th class. He didn’t do so great on some of the APs. In the section of the app or question something like “is there anything else we should know about you” He tackled this head on by explaining that when taking the APs test he learned that this is not such a great test for him (fast paced) and he should be judged on his GPA, Act and class rigor. Of course he worded it much better. AP is just one type of test… Period. This is not a good test for you either… Talk to not only your guidance counselor but reach out to the admissions people at a few of you school choices and talk about this. You don’t need to tell them who you are. They like never ask and see what the conscience is.
Good. Because that excuse is acceptable to nobody.
I agree that for almost all colleges, AP scores carry little to no weight. But even still, a wall of 5’s will, consciously or subconsciously, be viewed differently than a wall of 2’s. And even in the crappiest school districts with the most incompetent teachers, there are students who in spite of it all will pull out 4’s and 5’s. So my question is, and I am sure many AOs will also ask, if the OP will be able to handle the workload at College X.
My advice is that the OP can certainly have a few reaches, but s/he really needs to work to ensure that there are affordable matches and safeties on the list, as well.
To be clear on concept, I don’t really have 36K publc posts. As I am also a moderator, most of that number is the result of moderating activities. When I move a thread, action a flagged post, or communicate internally, those go to my post count.
Took the advice given, and emailed my GC.
"Mr. CounselorName,
Will it hurt my acceptance chances if I don’t report any AP scores to
schools like matchschoolname and stateschoolname? I haven’t passed any AP tests, so I
will not be reporting any scores."
He replied “No.”
I’m glad you got clarification from your counselor, @johnander123.
Thank you for reporting back!
Some schools don’t care about them…I agree with leave them all off. I think that looks better than, say if you submitted a couple where you had 4 (which I don’t think you do) – in that case it would be more obvious you didn’t do well on the others. But if you submit none of them, then the reason is unclear. Perhaps you didn’t take them (not all schools require it), perhaps you didn’t do well, perhaps you just aren’t looking for credit. IF they care, you or your GC might get asked and can answer at that time.
Skieurope tends to answer everything in the frame of tippy top schools, but there are MANY different colleges that all do things differently. It is not clear what tier of colleges you are looking at, but some may care and some may not. Even some tippy top colleges may not ask, because they don’t give credit anyway.
Agree with above posters - AP exams are not meant to be used for admissions purposes. That’s why you don’t have the scores sent to colleges. They are used AFTER admissions IF the college gives credit for AP courses.
Just wanted to report back yet again. I emailed my first choice school regarding whether not submitting AP scores would affect my acceptance chances. The response is below
Dear John,
Thank you for your email.
Our office does not use SAT Subject or AP Test scores in making admission decisions. If we are able to offer you admission, these scores can be used to award transfer credit. For more info on how we award credit by exam, please see schoolwebsite.com
This school is considered a “public ivy” institution by many. While I am relieved to see this message from the school itself, I agree with @skieurope, more than likely an AO will probably subconsciously wonder why I couldn’t pass any AP exams. Hopefully, my other stats will be good enough to get me in. Thanks to everyone that has responded thus far with advice.