Will a Four on an AP exam hurt my chances?

Hi, I am a sophomore currently and I have been reading through College Confidential.
I recently just received my AP scores:
AP Calc AB-5
AP World History-4

Another person from my school also wants to go to Stanford and she got a 5 on AP World, but did not take Calc. Should I be worried? I have taken the most challenging classes, and I have already taken the ACT ( I will likely study a lot more to get a higher score). I have a 4.55 gpa and I am scheduled to take 5 APs next year, which will be my junior year (psych, calc bc, physics 1, lang, and us history). I understand that getting into a top college is no guarantee, but please help me!

No… Colleges do not see your AP scores unless if you specifically send them in. The only reason you would do this is if you did badly in the class (low Bs, Cs, Ds…) and got a 4/5 on the exam. Or if you self studied.

Basically, they will be looking at your letter grade in the class instead.

In fact, colleges are actually happy you get bad AP scores as this means they will be able to charge you tuition for these courses.

What if I did send it in? I wasn’t thinking rationally and I thought, “Hey, why not save money?” That was before I realized that I might not like the score I got… Does Stanford value AP World or AP Calc more?

Getting a 4 or a 5 on the AP World test is not what’s going to keep you out of Stanford if they truly want you. It will also not even be close to what’s required to even get in. This is like a extremely minor thing that doesn’t even matter in the grand scheme of things. Stanford will just throw your score away.

AP Scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process. Additionally a 4 is still a good score. There are many worrisome things in the college admissions process - this is not one of them.

hey @skieurope what would u say are the most worrisome things in the process?

just curious