Is it bad if I want to major in biology or go into the medical field and only get a 4 on the AP Bio and 750 on the SAT II Bio E?
Do colleges really mind?
<p>I forgot, another question: </p>
<p>Do colleges care if you take an AP class in Computer Science but you don't plan on majoring in Computer Science or don't plan on having a job that has anything to do with Computer Science? I mean, is it still good to take the class? (just so you get AP credit)</p>
<p>The colleges don't care (not all classes you take have to be subjects that your major relates to).</p>
<p>Thanks! But, what about my first question...about the Biology? Will really good school care? like Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Yale, etc.</p>
<p>No. Maybe if it was like 500 on the SAT II and 2 on the AP exam they would mind. But a 750 and a 4 are perfectly respectable, even at the nation's elite. Not mind boggling, but respectable. Besides, colleges claim not to care what you put as your intended major on the application.</p>
<p>A 750 on the Bio SAT II and 4 on the AP Bio are not exactly bad, they just aren't stellar. Both show solid work and achievement. The problem is who you are competing against for HYPSM.</p>
<p>The extremely selective schools want to mirror society as a whole, and so they have unofficial categories that they want to fill such as URM, athletes, international students, legacies, development cases, and VIP's. They also look for geographic diversity so they want people from each state. They may need an oboe player for the orchestra, and you unfortunately play the violin.</p>
<p>Within each unofficial category, they first care about the difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank, then standardized test scores. (SAT and SAT II the most, and AP scores less.) After you qualify on academic factors, they want unique people. They look at your EC's, essays, and recs. You want to show "passion" and long-term committment in one or two EC's rather than a laundry list of activities where you did not have much involvement in any. This is where you want to tell them about your Olympic Gold Medal.</p>
<p>After all that, that have far too many applicants for some of the categories so that they can't take everybody. For every applicant accepted, there are four or five practically identical applicants who have to be denied because of lack of space. One college guide in particular said that it is ironic that the most qualified applicants have to apply to the most number of schools due to the lottery aspects at the top schools.</p>
<p>In view of all of this, your SAT II and AP scores in Bio are probably not deal breakers. To the extent that they matter, they are strong scores, but somebody else has better. If you are concerned about applying as a Bio major, don't declare a major, unless your hook is how you have always wanted to be a biologist.</p>
<p>Taking AP computers is a good move. The more difficult the curriculum the better. Of course, if your HS doesn't offer many AP courses, they don't expect you to have taken them. They just want to see that you took the most difficult curriculum offered.</p>
<p>dufus- I have to respectfully disagree with many of your posts. Those scores are perfectly fine- even for the elite schools. They are just a portion of the application, and they are excellent. Especially the AP 4- that won't matter one bit in the admissions process. It is a respectable score and will be a non-issue. You seem to think that everyone who gets into these schools has straight 800s. That simply isn't true. I know many non-hooked applicants who got into the elite schools with 1400-1500 SAT Is and SAT IIs in the 680-740 range. There are many aspects to the application.</p>
<p>In 2003, about 760 people in the US had a 1600/1600 SAT. Of these, about 500 applied to Harvard and less than 300 got in. I don't think that you have to have perfect scores. My own feeling is that an SAT at or above 1500-1550 is about where they stop spliting hairs about academics and start looking at EC's, essays and so forth. My idea of a suitable SAT II score is in the mid 700's. Of course, applicants with URM, legacy and other hooks can be lower.</p>
<p>I agree with you disagreeing with me on this post. This was the wrong time for me to run thru my comments on what it takes to get into HYPSM and how a lot of it is luck, and how people need to understand the odds, and how they do. The 750 is good and the 4 is good. I did say that they weren't deal breakers and were insignificant to everything else.</p>
<p>I base things I say on "The Gatekeepers", "Harvard Schmarvard", "Admissions Confidential", and 4/5 other guides. These three listed guides are in pretty good agreement. The dissenting voice in the college guides world is "A is for Admissions". I think this is because Hernandez wants to believe that the right people always get in.</p>
<p>I guess I would rather people were more conservative. I think that by the time they apply, they are more conservative. I know that non-hooked applicants (at least, no visible hooks) do sometimes get in with lower scores. I would hope that when they applied, they thought it was a reach school instead of a match. There are still people on these threads that think that they are a shoo-in for Harvard.</p>
<p>dude you are fine those are good scores you did fine</p>
<p>Reviving this thread. </p>
<p>I got a 5 on AP Physics B, which has the near exact syllabus as SAT II. I took the II twice, 1st time i got 690, and suprisingly 680 the second time (after AP). Im almost 100% certain it is a bubbling in error cuz i was scoring nearly everything correct on the prep-tests. I also got a string of A+s in school for the subject. What would colleges place more emphasis on - the IIs or the AP and school record?</p>
<p>unless u can prove that there was a bubbling error theres probly not much u can do about taht SAT II score unless u take it again. in general, i think that colleges will look at the SAT II's, however ur socre on SAT II physics B is considered to be competitive and when they look at the five, they will go "Oh" so he does know his physics and those two combined will be fine for colleges....for instance at Northwestern they state that they consider any SAT II score of 680+ as good enuf for them</p>
<p>The SAT II score is much more important for admissions than the AP score. The 690 will be seen as showing solid work and won't hurt you, but probably won't help either at the extremely selective schools. Don't worry too much. There is a lot that they look at, and the SAT II scores aren't the most important. First they look at difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank, and then standardized test scores. After you qualify on the academic factors for your unofficial category (URM, legacy, athlete, international student), then you need to look unique. This is where the EC's, essays, and recs come in. Don't stress too much over a SAT II score.</p>
<p>how much does having legacy help? my grandfather and my dad both went to a school im applying to....so i was wondering how much legacy would impact my admissions chances...is it like a make or break factor or is it pretty important?</p>
<p>Colleges try to create a freshman class that mirrors society, and so they have several unofficial categories such as URM, legacy, athletes, international students, and so on. Geographic diversity can help you since they like to have students from the entire country and extremely selective colleges like to have students from every state. Some colleges have separate rounds for each of the unofficial categories, and other colleges just give special consideration to the applicant as they go thru everyone in a single round.</p>
<p>Being a legacy can help you a lot at most colleges. You compete against other legacies instead of the entire applicant pool and the standards are lower. How much it helps you depends on the college. It is not an automatic in, but it helps.</p>
<p>I am looking at places like HYPMS...most people there score 750+ on the IIs.</p>
<p>any more input?</p>