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Sending AP Scores to Colleges in Advance of Applications

Written by Sally Rubenstone | April 6, 2011

Question: I am a high school junior planning to apply Early Action at Princeton this fall. So far I have taken 4 AP exams (Human Geography, US History, Psychology, Statistics) and scored a 5 on each of them. I am taking 5 more exams this year (Micro and Macro Economics, Calc AB, English Language, and Biology) and feel pretty confident on how I will perform on each of them. Should I send my scores to Princeton this May? If I do this, will my scores be assessed with my application even though the schools will receive them before I apply? Or should I send my scores later this year, around when I send my final SAT scores? Thank you!

Your AP scores require no “Advanced Placement” in admission offices. ;-) That is, it is not necessary to have your AP exam scores sent to Princeton officially (.i.e, directly from the College Board) until you have determined that you will matriculate there. You will be asked to report your scores yourself on your applications. Once you have determined where you will enroll---whether it's Princeton or elsewhere--you will need to order score reports for that college, if you expect to earn credit for your AP results.

For future reference: If you were to send any materials (e.g., recommendations, test scores) to colleges where you have not yet formally applied, the admission staff will keep these materials in a general file until your application comes in. Once an application and fee (or fee waiver) arrives and a staff member opens a file on a candidate, he or she will check to see if this new candidate has materials waiting in the general file.

(posted 4/6/2011)

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.