I have a question about AP scores and whether they matter for test blind schools like the UC’s. Logically, since these schools are test blind any reference to an AP class and score should reflect the academic rigor the student has undertaken. I know an AP or Honors reflects rigor but I am asking more about submission of AP scores to the UC’s or CSU’s - thanks
AP scores are considered by UC Berkeley in their application review.
Since Berkeley is a competitive campus, satisfying the minimum requirements is often not enough to be competitive for selection. In addition to the basic admission requirements, the campus selects its freshman class through an assessment that includes a holistic review of your academic performance as measured primarily by:
- Your weighted and unweighted UC grade point average (calculated using 10th and 11th grade UC-approved courses only)
- Your planned 12th grade courses
- Your pattern of grades over time
- The number of college preparatory, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), honors and transferable college courses you have completed
- Your level of achievement in those courses relative to other UC applicants at your school
- Your scores on AP or IB exams and SAT subject exams
UCLA has also stated they consider AP scores.
The rest of the UC’s and CSU’s have made no mention of using AP scores when evaluating Freshman applicants. They all state HS course rigor and AP class grades are important. You can self report AP test scores on both the CSU and UC applications but official scores do not need to be sent until a student actually enrolls at one of the campuses.
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Thanks as always @Gumbymom for your responses
We are headed to look at a few schools in April and have tours booked at University of Alabama, Clemson and Auburn. Can anyone who has been on these tours or to these schools recommend anything either to do/see in the towns, or on campus that they do not show you on the tour? Each of those tours is on one day, meaning we are only looking at one school each day so we have the day to explore. Staying in ATL and driving to each of the schools. We have one free day with nothing planned so we may look at UGA that day and do a self-guided tour but not sure yet. Thoughts?
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Paging @tsbna44 for input on Alabama!
Passing this info along in case anybody’s interested since NMSU usually has pretty good OOS merit scholarships and really excellent scholarships for NMF kids. They’re having “Aggie Experience” open house events on Mon 2/20 and Sat 3/25. You must register ahead of time at https://aggie-experience.nmsu.edu/.
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Something interesting & amusing just happened in our house. 
We are all at home this week…I’m telecommuting, DH is off of work, and both kids are off from school. Told D24 that I signed her up for all of us to go to the 3/25 Aggie Experience day at NMSU (it’s only a 5 1/2 hr drive from where we live, so we can drive there on Fri after school, spend the night, go do the NMSU thing all day, drive home on Sunday and still have time left over).
D24 did her typical “WHY?!” “Why? Why, Mama, do I have to do this?” I said, “Is that a serious question or do I really need to explain to you again why we’re going on college tours?” She laughed and said, “I’ll go, but I don’t have to enjoy it. Blah blah tour this, blah blah tour that. It’s so boring. I just don’t want to do it.”
told DH about it after he got off the phone and then he wanted to have a chat w/D24 about it (great, here we go, usually involves the 2 of them butting heads). DH told D24, “Hey, if you really don’t want to go on any of these tours and you tell us that you only want to apply to U of A and 1 backup school, then that’s fine and we’ll call it a day.”
Then D24 protested. And shared with us that at the “senior panel” they had at school earlier this month for 11th graders (the senior college counselor + some seniors…topic was about applying to college), “the college counselor told us that we should be targeting an average of 10 colleges to apply to. I can’t just apply to 2. And 1 senior is applying to 30. isn’t that crazy? 30 is a lot.”
so I told her that the purpose of going on a tour is kind of like test driving a car before you buy it. Thus, all of the protesting stopped.
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D24 also said " the seniors in the panel said that all of the applications are, like, $70 each." No, kiddo, that’s not true. NMSU and UNM are $25 each. U of A and ASU? $50 each. The lesser-ranked LACs she’ll probably apply to? $0. UAH? $30. U of Alabama? $40.
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Signed D24 up for a “Research @ Tech Day” on Feb 20th at NM Tech in Socorro, NM. She already has that day off of school due to Presidents’ Day anyway. 
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At Alabama, you can tour Bryant Denny stadium. I haven’t but I’ve read it’s a great tour. You do need tickets ahead of time. You can also meet with the department they are interested in and honors as well. When we toured, I liked the bus because I could easily hear the guide. But I also felt very turned around. Walking around after helped to get a better feel of campus.
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Surprised they haven’t scrubbed the reference to SAT subject tests as I believe those were phased out a few years ago.
Yes. You would think that page would have been updated by now.
Signed D24 up for the Feb 11th ACT! My kids head back to school the day after tomorrow.
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Happy New Year all!
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New year wishes to everyone. Made pit stops at Wesleyan, UMass Amherst, Northeastern and BU while on a family trip this past weekend. This is our first of college exploration tour and all campuses were deserted due to holiday. D24 had a chance to get to walk around the campuses and get a feel for college setting (urban, rural, small/big etc.)
No first impressions yet but looks like she is starting to ask some questions which is comforting. Until this trip, her usual banter has been “Why are you always talk about college?”, “no one else in my school talks about these things” or some version of it 
Thanks to this forum, i am learning a lot about this process and be ready to answer (hopefully) with any questions from D about colleges, programs etc.
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Your user name is awesome!
If you aren’t from around here, make sure she knows the weather over the New Years weekend is entirely not normal for MA 
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Sure that weather is normal…if it is the first week of April!
Yep, totally get the weather part 
as we have family in the area. We are from NJ and kind of lucked out as i was able to map out the route and able to leisurely drive around Northeastern and BU area without any traffic which i am sure will not be the case any other time of the year.
Was able to drive right up to Ruggles St and walk around the campus for 45 mins or so. I really liked NEU campus setting compared to BU.
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Thank you! I came up with that name when i created a Whatsapp group chat for my wife, D and myself. My son will join once he finishes middle school and get his own phone. I see this bankrolling to continue for next decade or so 
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