<p>“Faking” and “omitting” are intrinsically different. If we were to not omit any credentials, then we should be required to report all AMC and AIME scores, as well as all the position elections we lost, and all the championships we lost. The problem arises when the applicant fake a score into a higher one, claims they have a position in school board they don’t, and reports that he won a championship he has not.</p>
<p>No, I’m not telling you to sacrifice anything. When my kids applied to college several years back, Harvard, Yale and Princeton had a section on their supplement for additional test scores that wouldn’t fit on the Common Application. I’m suggesting that you proudly list your 5’s on the Common App and, if a college has an additional testing section on their supplement, that you list your lesser AP tests there. That would be the honest thing to do!</p>
<p>Oh I see. Yes, I agree to that. Nowadays, only Yale out of those 3 has that slots. So for the other two schools, I guess I’ll just keep quiet? Haha.</p>
<p>As the Common Application has changed their format for next year, with new essay questions and omitting the essay about an extracurricular activity, every college may also be changing their supplement to reflect the information they want. No one will know for sure until after August 1st.</p>
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<p>Well, this is what post #1 there says:</p>
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<p>If this is a Harvard policy, they sure are doing a bad job of getting the word out! We have the word (by hearsay) of one person who says he heard this at his school six years ago. If this were a Harvard policy, wouldn’t we see it written down somewhere (besides a post at CC)?</p>
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<p>I really don’t see how you can made a connection between that incident and failing to follow what you heard on CC by hearsay several times removed. Somewhat different levels of “dishonesty,” wouldn’t you say?</p>
<p>Just FYI last time I emailed Yale (two days ago) it said I can choose which AP/AMC/AIME scores to report. That was the exact words the officer used.</p>
<p>@SoCalDad2: My point in bring up the incident was that I think Harvard, once burned, is being extra vigilant with applications. For example, in the past several years, every essay submitted to Harvard has been run through some computer program that is looking for plagiarism. There are different levels of “dishonesty” but given the 125 students who recently cheated on a Harvard exam, I think Harvard these days may have a lower tolerance than other schools. That was my point.</p>
<p>Gibby, again, am I cheating by not reporting the score of an exam I have not prepared for? You are constantly evading this question. I honestly took the test and honestly failed it. But how is not talking about my failure a dishonesty? Is it required anywhere on the application to report all the AP scores? It’s not; so how is it dishonesty, if it is? That’s the question for which I want the answer.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to evade your question. If you just self-report your good scores and not your bad ones, you are asking a college to believe that you a better student than you actually are. That is a misrepresentation of your overall scholastic ability and it is not truthful.</p>
<p>Gibby, in that AP scores are not required, it’s similar to the reporting of extracurricular activities; we all choose the good information that presents us well. But that’s not dishonesty. It’s called choice. 
I participated in debate team freshman year, but quit it after because I wasn’t good at it. I’m not going to write that on my app because it makes me look bad. Is that misrepresentation? Or dishonesty? What about my two AMC scores - 100.5 and 108.0. I’m just reporting 108. Is that dishonesty?</p>
<p>Do colleges now ask for you to report your AMC scores? Unless, I’m mistaken, they do not, so that’s not a good analogy. We will have to agree to disagree on this one, as I’m off to bed. The advice I’m offering is from the experience of helping my two kids successfully go through the college applications process. As one of them is a rising senior at Harvard and the other a rising junior at Yale, I’m kind of attuned to what each institution is thinking these days when they ask students to self-report scores on their college applications. You can believe what you want to believe. Good night.</p>
<p>Good night! Thanks for spending your time on my dilemma! As much as we differ in opinion, I respect your care on the college admission processes kids face these days.</p>
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<p>So you have not been involved with the application process at either school for over two and a half years. Why are you “attuned to what each institution is thinking these days”?</p>
<p>I’m curious where it’s stated that every admissions essay goes through a plagiarism check. 35,000 times X essays? </p>
<p>OP, you’ve contacted some adcoms and gotten some direction. You should review this with your GC and make your best decision. To be frank, the omission of one score that does not reflect material covered in the class, especially when you have 8 5’s to report-- is not a showstopper. IME (not H) AP scores can attest to your grade in the class. Not all kids even have all their AP scores by December 31.</p>
<p>@SoCalDad2: Although my kids went through the applications process several years back, both schools send students and their parents huge amounts of press releases, news articles and facebook updates about everything going on at the university, including what’s happening in the admissions office. Most of it is available on-line, as well, but few applicants take the time to read through it for every college they are applying to. For example, Google: Harvard Magazine, Harvard Gazette, Harvard Crimson, Harvard College Admission News and Announcements, etc </p>
<p>@Lookingforward: Please see notice at the bottom of Harvard’s supplement as well as the article in Inside Higher Ed</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/forms/supplement_1213.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/forms/supplement_1213.pdf</a></p>
<p>Verification of Application Materials</p>
<p>Please be aware that Harvard, like most schools, uses outside companies to help process, review and collect data for applications. For this purpose we share application materials and information with them. Examples of such outside companies include the Common Application and Universal College Application, transcript request services, and services that review materials for plagiarism. These companies in many cases will retain the application information in their databases. We also share application information with our alumni interviewers.</p>
<p>[Finding</a> Applicants Who Plagiarize | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/23/essays]Finding”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/23/essays)</p>
<p>“Turnitin is also talking to the Common Application about using its services – raising the possibility that it could soon make inroads into the undergraduate market.”</p>
<p>“Turnitin is a huge force on campuses: it is currently used at 9,000 high schools and colleges, and has processed more than 100 million papers. Many professors value Turnitin and can be seen at scholarly meetings thanking its representatives in the exhibit hall. These faculty members tend to say that they used to feel helpless to fight plagiarism – and that they were tired of using Google to try to find proof about work they suspected wasn’t original.”</p>
<p>Why all the consternation over this issue?</p>
<p>If you aren’t sure how to handle the situation, contact the respective admissions departments directly. An admissions officer from each institution will give a response, and you will simply do what he/she instructs. End of story.</p>
<p>Do this, and you’ll have a clear conscience…which is, frankly, more important than getting into HYPSM while being unsure whether you misrepresented yourself on your application/AP score report.</p>
<p>Stop polling the CC community for best college app best practices. It really doesn’t matter what some person on the Internet thinks about your predicament. Really.</p>
<p>AFAIK, Harvard uses your AP scores to help determine proper class placement and eligibility for Advanced Standing (graduating in 3 years rather than 4). FYI, although a high percentage of Harvard undergrads qualify for Advanced Standing, most decide to spend 4 years on campus earning a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>Hope this helps…</p>
<p>^^ Great suggestion Bartleby007. Thank you!</p>
<p>@LookingForward: When I posted the above, I should have included this 2007 Crimson article, as well: [College</a> Uses Web Plagiarism Checks | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/10/college-uses-web-plagiarism-checks-as/]College”>College Uses Web Plagiarism Checks | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>I’ll just say one thing. Omitting an ap score is nothing close to plagiarism.</p>
<p>I never said it was. Sorry, the thread got side-tracked; that’s my fault. Bartleby007 had a good suggestion – call or email each admissions office and see what they say regarding the reporting of AP scores.</p>
<p>gibby, I had seen the supp wording, never doubted adcoms might check at random or in cases of suspicion. Knew profs had this tool. Knew some grad program adcoms are toying with it. Know Turnitin is developing an admissions checker.</p>
<p>What I doubt, at this point, is that it will soon be feasible to run every undergrad application through a program. BUT, oh yeah, I do think there is a subset of applicants many schools would love to run through the software.</p>