Anonymous wrote:My kid also has the scholar with distinction designation but has a low score on one test and a three on another so doesn’t want to list all the scores. From what we understand, colleges use AP scores for placement/credit, not for admissions decisions so we weren’t going to list all the scores but it seems like listing the “scholar with distinction” designation as an honor can’t hurt…

I think it is important due to grade inflation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid will get the distinction (and has nothing to put on the honors section…) but got two 3s which they will not report. Would it still be recommended to put the distinction down even when not reporting the scores?

No. Do not recommend. That is shining a light on the fact that you didn’t report

I completely disagree. My kid put the distinction and didn't list the individual scores anywhere (there were 11). It was fine.

Anonymous wrote:I think I would put it on only if it’s the only honor the kid has. If there’s anything else—any one thing at all— I’d leave it off. It’s so low-level it’s fairly meaningless and doesn’t give more info than the actual AP scores.

This just isn't true. It's something on a list that is a quick signal to app readers, which they understand.

Anonymous wrote:My kid will get the distinction (and has nothing to put on the honors section…) but got two 3s which they will not report. Would it still be recommended to put the distinction down even when not reporting the scores?

No. Do not recommend. That is shining a light on the fact that you didn’t report

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid did not have many honors/awards, so yes, he put AP Scholar with Distinction AND NHS on his list.

Same here.. That's the only National Award my kid had, so on it went. I don't know what people are doing that they "don't have space" to put this.

No space:
Regional Stem award
State wide language award
School based selective school award given to one student at the end of junior year
First robotics worlds placement
National MeritSF

All of these are much more rare than AP scholar with distinction, which fully 20% of the private school achieves by the end of junior yr. Another 30% achieve the lesser AP “awards”.
However, AP scholar is better than not filling in the spots, so do it

My son got 5s in all of his tests but only took 3 (1 last year and 2 this year). I guess he’s the first distinction?

It's not going to hurt the application.

My kid reported it but didn’t report scores. Admitted ED1 so we don’t know how they would have fared more broadly and what, if any, impact it had, negative or positive. If they had had better stuff to fill the space, would have easily skipped. No academic awards pre-senior spring at our public school. Listed nhs as award rather than activity because had more space in awards while ECs were full. Doubt colleges care much about either but for a non AP score submitter, it showed DC passed their exams with at least 3s and 4s.

The HS my kid attends doesn't have an honor roll and they don't rank. This supports their GPA, especially since the description will list the 5s.

Anonymous wrote:I think I would put it on only if it’s the only honor the kid has. If there’s anything else—any one thing at all— I’d leave it off. It’s so low-level it’s fairly meaningless and doesn’t give more info than the actual AP scores.

Actually, aren't there room for 5 awards/honors? So, really, if the have any one thing at all, as you say, they still have room for the AP award. It's not meaningless.

AIME qualifier
Other state-level math competitions
Chess competitions
Multiple instrumental music awards, including monetary awards
NMSF

So the kid already has to leave some out. But I’m only writing this because you asked. When I said not to list it unless the kid would otherwise leave it blank, that was my true best advice as to what would look good to me if I were an admissions reader, given AP scores are separately reported. On the other hand, I’m also only thinking about T25 colleges. So I should have made that clear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would put it on only if it’s the only honor the kid has. If there’s anything else—any one thing at all— I’d leave it off. It’s so low-level it’s fairly meaningless and doesn’t give more info than the actual AP scores.

Please tell me what the 5 honors your child has that they didn't have room to list AP scholar with distinction as a honor.

All State Dorkestra? Why do you ask?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its meaningless

No. If a kid scores high on all of their AP exams, it shows they have a good understanding of those subjects and it is standardized. It’s not subjective.

It's like saying - hey you got 100% on your test well done, here's a certificate to confirm that

aka totally fecking meaningless

Anonymous wrote:I think I would put it on only if it’s the only honor the kid has. If there’s anything else—any one thing at all— I’d leave it off. It’s so low-level it’s fairly meaningless and doesn’t give more info than the actual AP scores.

Please tell me what the 5 honors your child has that they didn't have room to list AP scholar with distinction as a honor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Eeks” not weeks

The word is ekes.

+1. "Eeks" are the sounds a mouse makes.