<p>I've already gotten into Caltech and am waiting on Stanford. Both don't accept any AP courses that I'm taking this year. So, is there any point in taking the tests? I heard on the Stanford forum that departments sometimes consider test scores for placement purposes.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Nope, no point in taking the tests for Caltech. Placement tests are always used and AP scores are always ignored.</p>
<p>Carry on senioritising.</p>
<p>save the money! and go buy an ipod or like camera or something!</p>
<p>my school is lame... made us sign up BY the day before Caltech letter came... but most people sign up around end of February, so they took my money already.. grr.</p>
<p>Will Caltech look at this as slacking? </p>
<p>Or is it because AP results don't come until June?</p>
<p>I asked the conselor when my son did Caltech in a Day. He said it was fine. Not taking the test is different than not finishing the class, or doing poorly in it. </p>
<p>Consider it the one fringe benefit for choosing a school that give no credit for APs.</p>
<p>Yeah Caltech truly does not care or keep track of your AP results once you're in. That would be totally hypocritical.</p>
<p>Oh my god are you serious? I was afraid they'd think I was slacking. >___>
Ughh. Too bad I already paid for them.</p>
<p>Usually, you can get part (or most) of your money back if you don't take the test (at least if it works like it I think it did when I was a senior in HS)</p>
<p>Caltech doesn't consider AP scores at all for class placement.</p>
<p>So...this is probably not something a prefrosh should plan for yet, but:</p>
<p>Many people at Caltech flame or otherwise find themselves unhappy and transfer to some other school- in which case AP credit would be very useful, especially if you transfer after failing all your classes at Caltech (eg if you don't take the AP Calc BC test, fail math 1a, and transfer to a state school, you'll have to take Calc 1 over again).
Since there is no way to predict at this point whether or not you'll flame or will otherwise become unhappy (it happens to IMO gold medalists, and is almost uncorrelated with prior preparation or intelligence), taking the AP tests may be a good idea.</p>
<p>jesus christ, "many people?" GROSS exaggeration.</p>
<p>Prefrosh, know that there are professors, TAs, tutors, and classmates to help you if you are struggling. I used all of these resources at various points (I went to a high school in bum****, USA where every class was a joke, and I was totally unprepared for core) and trust me, they work. People who leave have usually either lost their interest in science/math/engineering or were not working hard enough. (I don't think I've met anyone here not capable of getting the work done, esp. considering all of the resources that are available. Most of the time there is something - WoW, online poker, marijuana, mental illness, disinterest - that has gotten in the way.) There is no reason to suspect that you will flame or become unhappy if you enroll here. Seriously!</p>