Hello CCers,
I’m an international student (just started senior year) who will be applying to college for next year. I’ve heard that typically APs are not expected from international students, and the courses aren’t offered in a 200 miles radius around me, anyway. I was motivated so I decided to self study and recently took the AP Computer Science (and will take the Physics C too). I’m not sure how it went. I might be on the border of 4 and 5. I might get a four, I might get a five.
So my question is, in case I get a four, should I report that score to highly selective universities such as the Ivy League and Stanford? Or will they frown upon a 4 and I’m better off not reporting it since it wasn’t expected of me anyway? Note that I’m talking about the impact of APs on college admission decisions and NOT credit and/or placement. I hardly care about the latter at this point.
Please forgive me if I sound ignorant or if I’m overthinking, but being an international, I thought it would be best to ask this at CC where the majority are Americans. Thanks! 
—Prayaas
Yes; a 4 is a very good score.
You correctly state that AP’s are not expected of you when not offered by your school. You show initiative by seeking them out. However, for the vast majority of colleges, AP scores play little to no role in the decision process; they are mainly used for credit and/or placement.
Of course, you may also end up scoring 5’s anyway.
I wouldn’t worry a lot about it either way. Get your scores, see how they play into your overall story. US universities don’t put a lot of weight on APs in admissions (which imo is strange: you seem to get more credit from taking the course called ‘AP’ than you do for getting good scores on the test itself). The overall emphasis is on demonstrating that you are the sort of over and above student who is challenging themselves as much as possible.
Thank you for the replies.
I had written a lot but it got truncated somehow, I’ll post it again.
Skieurope, that takes a lot of burden off my shoulders. I had been worrying my application won’t be “good enough” as I got a 2130 on the SAT at the end of sophomore year and will take it again next month. I can’t seem to improve too much despite practice and am in 2200s in the practice tests. But on the subject tests, I have an 800 in both Math tests and expect something similar on Physics. I also have a ‘hook’ of sorts, but my worries are: I’m asian (technically, because I’m Indian), international national and require financial aid.
Collegemom, that makes sense! I’ve heard the “challenge” language from many colleges and AP seems to be a good way to demonstrate that.
A ‘4’ puts you in the top 40% and a ‘5’ puts you in the top 20%. You have to ask yourself if you think these schools you want to apply for are looking for students in the top 40% or the top 20%.
With your background, traditional highly selective schools are impossible to get into. You need to look at schools with a 30% + acceptance rate to expect to get in:
Hmm, can you elaborate a bit about the background part? If that’s what it takes, I’m going to dramatically improve my SAT. I have to, and I think I will be able to.
I’ll say it bluntly. You’re Asian. Asians are an ORM at elite schools and the international pool for Asians is insanely competitive. You need an extraordinary hook or accomplishment. It goes beyond test scores. Check out the HYP threads. There are a ton of over qualified students with 2300+ and perfect SAT scores who get shut out by all elite colleges.
Oh please. Stop with the “poor picked on Asian” thing.
Being an international who is English as a second language is a huge disadvantage. Being an international who has no idea what college in the US is about is a huge disadvantage.
You do imply that your family does not care about the monetary benefit of AP credits. Not needing financial aid is a plus for an international candidate. And if that is true, don’t report at all, and only report if you get 5s, then you have to pay for it.