<p>Two academically highly successful students I know did not take AP classes, in part because their school offered limited APs, in part because what APs it did offer conflicted with other things they wanted to do, and in part because they both did a junior year/semester abroad programs. </p>
<p>Both girls got into an Ivy each (Columbia, Cornell) as well as McGill, Univ of British Columbia and Berkeley. They're both at Berkeley. Proving you CAN do very well in high school and get into very good schools -- with nary an AP class in sight.</p>