Am I Required to Take AP Courses/Tests? (International Student Aiming High for Ivy Leagues)

Applying to College
1

I’m currently studying at a non-international high school in Thailand (although it’s an English Program that teaches everything in English but uses Thai curricula), and my school offers neither AP nor IB courses. In fact, I’ve just recently known that AP/IB courses existed when I became interested in applying for the Ivy Leagues (what a shame).

Some international schools in Thailand DO offer AP courses, so should I give it a try? I have absolutely no idea about AP courses, but if I really need to take them it’s an OK. I don’t want the colleges immediately throwing away my app form only because I don’t take AP courses, so … :frowning:

Thanks in advance!

P.S. My English is fluent as a Thai, and my SAT score is over 1500 (I’m trying to push it up to a 1550+); I also get perfect grades. I do lots of extracurricular activities, and have won a number of national/international awards— just in case this kind of info matters.

2

No, you’re not required. Some speculate that taking AP classes but not taking the exams might be a bad sign to some adcoms, but nobody knows for sure. Adcoms almost universally deny that AP scores play a role in admissions decisions, and it wouldn’t be very fair to penalize students whose schools don’t offer APs, but there’s no way of knowing for sure. Best of luck, @MindNichakorn

3

Thanks, @marvin100 ! Guess I’ll just focus on improving my SAT and SAT subject tests. :slight_smile: