AP Distinguished Scholar Award

[Tinker'n'Fun]

DS just received a letter that he has received this award. I have never heard about it. DD took classes, got high grades never received it. Does anyone know is this is something we need to look into or is it more like they got his name from taking the exams? Thanks. I am just full of questions today!

 

[SC Minnie]

DS just received a letter that he has received this award. I have never heard about it. DD took classes, got high grades never received it. Does anyone know is this is something we need to look into or is it more like they got his name from taking the exams? Thanks. I am just full of questions today!

DD got one the other day too. I have a feeling they get the information from the exams because the letter came from Collegeboard or something. I am not sure if it even means anything.

eta-- I just looked it up on Collegeboard. It is an award but has no monetary value.

 

[HannaBelle]

DS got a certificate last year from the college board as well, but he did receive a small scholarship from his university as well. You might have your DD contact the financial aid office and see if she is eligible for something from her school.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

DD got one the other day too. I have a feeling they get the information from the exams because the letter came from Collegeboard or something. I am not sure if it even means anything.

eta-- I just looked it up on Collegeboard. It is an award but has no monetary value.

DS's came from the AP division. He was freaking thinking one of his grades was wrong! It came with a certificate and did say to go to the college boards to get more information and that they would contact his school also.

DS got a certificate last year from the college board as well, but he did receive a small scholarship from his university as well. You might have your DD contact the financial aid office and see if she is eligible for something from her school.

I am going to call DD's high school to see if they have it. She took many AP classes and was never lower than 3. So I will see if maybe I just overlooked it. I know it is not a huge thing, but I have books with all their certificates from K-12. So if she earned it, I would like it in the book.

Thank you both for your information.

 

[ctl]

My DD just got her certificate a few days ago in the mail. She got all 5's too. It has no monetary value, just something extra to write on your college application.
My DS got one both his junior year (took 6 Ap exams got all 5's and his senior year 7 AP's got all 5s.) Just something to say "great job!"

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

My DD just got her certificate a few days ago in the mail. She got all 5's too. It has no monetary value, just something extra to write on your college application.
My DS got one both his junior year (took 6 Ap exams got all 5's and his senior year 7 AP's got all 5s.) Just something to say "great job!"

Thank you for letting me know. I think DS is hoping DD doesn't have one so he can have an award to himself. They are both very similar in grades, but DD was more outgoing and did extra-curricular activities way more than him, so she has a ton more silly awards in her book.

We enjoy looking back at some of the awards they received. In grammar school it was just horrible to get the Spanish Award and DD got it every year. We love to tease her about it. The schools do have a lot of different categories now though!

I wonder what it will be like for their children and if the awards will be given out then. I hope they can share their books with them.

 

[disykat]

One of my sons ended up with National AP scholar (he took 9 APs) and the other one will probably get AP scholar or AP scholar with honor (he's taking 4 AP's.) Since my younger son only had two APs going into senior year, he won't have an award yet when he's filling out college apps. I think my older son had the distinction one by then. It's a nice smooth way to let them know you were AP without seeing your transcript. It's based on how many AP's you take and what grades you get on them. I'd say they look best on independent scholarship applications than anything. I know it was definitely a "feel good" kind of thing for my oldest, but pretty much expected from his peers at our high school.

From the collegeboard website:

"AP Scholar Awards

The AP Program offers several AP Scholar Awards to recognize high school students who have demonstrated college-level achievement through AP courses and exams. Although there is no monetary award, in addition to receiving an award certificate, this achievement is acknowledged on any AP score report that is sent to colleges the following fall.

Award Levels

AP Scholar

Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams.

AP Scholar with Honor

Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

AP Scholar with Distinction

Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.

State AP Scholar

Granted to the one male and one female student in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia with scores of 3 or higher on the greatest number of AP Exams, and then the highest average score (at least 3.5) on all AP Exams taken.

National AP Scholar

Granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams."

 

[tar heel]

I don't think these are important for a college application except for the state and national designations. The college has the applicant's transcript, which indicates classes and grades -- I'm sure they are very familiar with these designations. I think high schools can use these distinctions to try to prove they are doing a good job with the top students.

 

[bdcp]

DS got an award/certificate 10 years ago due to getting a 4 or 5 on something like 5 AP exams. He went to UVA and didn't get any scholarship money but he did get college credit.

 

[jsmith]

One of my sons was a National AP Scholar in 2007. While the award itself is mostly a certificate for his "i love me" portfolio it did make him eligible to compete for a scholarship awarded locally that he did get and the credit from the AP exams he took combined with some dual enrollment classes let him start college as a sophomore, saving us a year of college expenses which is a good as a scholarship.

 

[a1tinkfans]

my ds just got the national AP scholar and AP scholar with distinction certificates (from sr year) . he is already in college, just started...
Those APS went a long way and starting college with 49 credits was great..he is on a full academic scholarship, so YES, be sure that your HS knows about the certificates (they do/should) get notified...it can open doors to scholarships that h/she can apply for or be offered....be sure it is on the resume/college ap as welll
Best of Luck and Congrats!!

 

[Schmeck]

Both of my daughters had enough AP 'points' to get the AP Scholar with Distinction, (block scheduling only allows for 5 AP classes to be taken in our HS) but my older daughter did not get the award, as they messed up at College Board. They sent her two AP Scholar certificates instead, LOL!

Not a big deal, we've found that most of the really competitive engineering schools do not accept AP tests for credit, and both of my children decided not to skip the introductory classes that were accepted.