I am planning to self-study AP Lit- should I add that into the test section in the UC application? If I end up not taking the test, will the college I go to rescind my admission?
Colleges are not impressed with self studying APs, so there is no reason to list on the application.
I’m not doing it specifcifally for college applications, but since I’m putting in the work, should I mention it at least?
No
If you do list it on the UC app, wind up getting accepted and not taking the test, you would need to notify the school that you didn’t take the test. You wouldn’t get rescinded for not taking one test.
@skieurope, I am curious - why wouldn’t an admin be impressed with self-study AP scores? I have seen you and others state this before, but I don’t understand the logic. The point is to show the admissions folks that one is ready for college level material (isn’t it?), so wouldn’t a 4 or 5 on an AP exam benefit the student for admission’s sake, self-studied or not?
Thanks in advance for explaining, and I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.
I’m merely relating what I was told by AOs. @JanieWalker
When I was going through the admissions process a couple of years ago, I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown, among others. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.
As to why, I’m guessing, but here are my thoughts: Nothing says one-dimensional more than listing self studying APs on the app. Colleges want applicants to maximize their academic experiences in the classroom, and to use their time outside the classroom for something other than academics. Additionally, I’m not sure that performing well on a 3 hour exam is necessarily indicative that one “is ready for college level material.” I’ve told the story before that I did not take a psych class in HS, and my only prep for the AP Psych exam was reading through Barron’s the weekend before and I still got a 5. Clearly not doable for something like Calc BC, but goes to show that not all AP courses/exams are considered equal, IMO.
Agreeing with @skieurope (and have heard the same from AOs at a bunch of other colleges as well).
Also, a number of colleges are trying to discourage the AP arms race: there are a lot of students who think ‘if x # of APs = good, x + y# must = better’.
Fwiw, Lit wouldn’t dazzle anyway: lots of students take it w/o an AP class (many academically competitive schools see their ‘regular’ English class as more than adequate prep).
A couple of examples:
Stanford:
https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/selection/prepare.html
https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/selection/
MIT:
https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/on_aps_1/
A good point for the OP. Saying one is self studying AP Lit is pretty meaningless. In all probability, one is taking an English class anyway. One can prepare for the format of the exam, but it’s not like effective literary analysis can be self taught. Certainly if one takes a regular English class and gets a 5 on the exam, report the 5. But AOs are really not interested in what you’re going to do.
Also, there is no consistency in the usage of the term “self study.” Taking an honors English course and filling in any gaps for the AP exam is different than teaching yourself Physics C via the Young and Freedman text without having more than a HS intro physics background.
Okay, I see. I ended up not reporting AP Lit as a self-study though I’m still going to self-study, not for adcoms but because I really wish that I took ap lit and I miss analyzing and reading and this is a way to get myself to continuously study through the year.
But glad to see that # of APs aren’t everything. I took classes I really enjoyed but was really worried that taking 6 aps/in high school was going to be an automatic rejection to a lot of colleges, compared to peers who took 7-9.
The number of APs figures into overall schedule rigor; self studying does not take the place of rigor. Whether 6 APs are “enough” compared to your peers depends. 9 APs where a large chunk of them are AP lite courses and/or semester equivalents like AP Gov or AP Stats will be viewed differently than 6 rigorous AP courses across several disciplines like APUSH and AP Calc and AP Chem and AP Lang. How rigor is assessed is basically left up to the GC, so if s/he says your 6 APs make your schedule “most demanding” AOs will generally not spend much type analyzing the content of your 4-year schedule. Additionally, course rigor is simply one part of the entire application.
The number of APs in and of itself is not the critical factor. However, top tier colleges will want to see the guidance counselor check the box on the recommendation saying you have taken the most rigorous course-load available at your HS (which doesn’t mean taking every AP class – there is often some latitude in this). You may want to check with your guidance counselor to see if your prior and current HS schedule is sufficient to get that most rigorous box checked.
There is one area where AP can make or break - admission at some European universities. When I checked admissions criteria at the European university I attended, they would not take community college credits as proof of readiness but if you scored sufficiently in 5 AP tests, they would admit you even if you had no college at all. I haven’t looked into other schools but that is the only reason my child is taking self-study AP tests. Plus, lower tier schools will award credit so if you are not just looking for elite schools, it can maybe pay off? In general, looking into European universities, I have been very surprised at how much credence they have places in these markers of competence (SAT, AP and, of course, IB).
I’ve taken a combination of “hard” and “easy”- calc bc, physics c, ap lang, ap spanish, ap gov (semester) and ap statistics. A lot students do take aps like ap chinese as a native speaker or ap art though?
And @happy1 I’ve heard that before but for some reason, my counselor only gives me a vague answer when I ask her that- she just says, yeah that’s rigorous, but won’t elaborate further.
I’d consider that “most rigorous.” 
Since you mentioned UCs (and this is similar to many other colleges) they only grant 8 units credit for AP English. So if you scored a 3 or higher on AP Lang, there’s no additional credit for AP Lit.
While, true, the OP gave no indication that s/he was looking at universities outside the US. But tying back to the original question, European unis, even more than their US counterparts, are all about the results. They want X number of AP exams with a score of Y or higher (and often specific exams depending on the uni/course); they don’t care if you self study or take the class,so long as you get the score. And work-in-progress (unless one already has the needed scores) will only result in a provisional acceptance if an acceptance is offered at all.
I disagree with the notion that listing self-study APs is useless. If it was useless, why bother with listing non a-g courses (UC app) or extracurricular courses? Listing it is better than not listing it. Now if you want to argue the merits of whether self-studying an AP class makes sense, that’s entirely another issue.
In particular, taking AP Calc BC as a self-study when you’ve only taken Calc AB is very useful IMO. Classes where an AP is not available/eligible and you take the AP exam is worthwhile as well.
@skieurope @CCtoAlaska yeah, I’ve heard that European Universities care a lot about AP scores, which is why I’m not applying to any since 4 of my aps are in progress now.
Thank you all for your help!
@skieurope Thanks for the explanation. For the OP and traditional school applicants, that makes sense.
(FWIW, for a homeschooler, self-studying APs and taking the exam after taking a non-traditional path to learn the material might be a good idea - the homeschooled applicant can show that their way of learning resulted in the same knowledge as that of someone who took the traditional AP course. That’s not the situation for the OP though, I understand.)