How important is National AP Scholar really?

Applying to College
1

<p>I might potentially get a national AP scholar award at the end of junior year, hopefully!!
But does it help on apps? What difference could it make for higher end schools (Ivies, for example)?? Any experiences on this?</p>

2

<p>id like to know the same thing</p>

3

<p>national ap scholar by the end of junior year is significant. it won't be a make-or-break factor in admissions, but it's a great little extra.</p>

4

<p>Only 700 or so juniors earn that distinction each year, so I think it is fairly impressive.</p>

5

<p><a href="http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/2008_AP_Scholar_Counts.xls%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/2008_AP_Scholar_Counts.xls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>bump</p>

<p>anyone??</p>

7

<p>thanks, tokenadult, for the link to the newest data. I hadn't seen that yet. The new data shows that 836 juniors earned National Merit Scholar last year.</p>

<p>We had eight from our State, and two from our block.</p>

<p>Member 2008, I'm unable to tell you how helpful this award is with elite admissions. Common sense would tell one that the award shows that the recipient took an extremely rigorous courseload and demontrated mastery of the subject matter. First and foremost, elite colleges want to know if their applicants can handle the academic challenge. It sounds as if you are well on your way.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

8

<p>And thanks to you, sherpa, for prompting me to check that source. I have some memory glitch such that I always get the order of magnitude of that figure wrong--maybe because my state is one of the states with a larger number of juniors who are AP national scholars. I would have guessed the number was in the thousands if your post hadn't prompted me to confirm that it is in the hundreds nationwide.</p>

9

<p>Another point to consider is that the large number now is due to the fact that half APs are also considered towards the award. It used to be less than 300 when only full year APs were considered towards National AP Scholar.</p>

<p>Examples of half APs are
1. Micro and Macro Economics
2. Physics C Mechanics and E&M
3. Calculus AB or Calculus BC and not both
4. Computer Science A or Computer Science AB and not both</p>

<p>Previously both parts of Physics C together were 1 AP and now it is counted as 2. Similarly Micro and Macro Economics together were 1 AP and now these are counted as 2.</p>

<p>So if you filter all of the above then you will find that National AP Scholar indeed was a coveted award.</p>