I’m a current freshmen, and my teachers have really been hyping up the idea of the AP Capstone Diploma. Is it really all that, and is it actually a way to stand out in college admissions?
In and of itself? No. The quality of the final project, whether as part of AP Capstone, the IB program, or a regular school capstone requirement may help an applicant; the independent research could potentially make an interesting essay, and the skills learned will help in college and beyond.
While most colleges publicly support the IDEA of the capstone courses (interdisciplinary, project-based), very few of the selective ones take credit for it. While they teach essential academic skills, they really aren’t “college level” as far as I can see (although full disclosure: my school is not a capstone school so all my knowledge of the courses is from researching them). My advice is to pretend that these courses don’t have the ‘AP’ designation. Do you still want to take them? Would you still find them interesting and valuable?
Capstone Diploma itself won’t really place you apart from others in college admissions. It might, however, give you valuable research skills that many colleges expect their students to know at arrival. My daughter is taking it (first year), and while I don’t foresee any groundbreaking research next year, I think it would make it easier for her to prepare term papers once she is in college.
One thing to consider is opportunity cost, I.e. what would you be giving up in order to fit in two years of capstone into your schedule? If it’s foreign language, then it’s probably not worth it as most top universities expect 4 years of foreign language in HS or equivalent (reaching AP level in that FR in less than 4 years). If it is another elective or semi-elective you could take via dual enrollment or once in college (or skip altogether), such as AP Psych, APES, etc., then Capstone might be a wise choice.
I’ve been researching this with D21 as well. She’s got an a in AP Sem this semester but struggling with the decision of whether or not you take AP Research next year
I would recommend it! Like other posters said, it’s a relatively new program (when I took it, it was only a couple years old), but colleges are recognizing it. If anything, I would take it simply for the invaluable research, writing skills, and presentation skills you gain from it. Sure, you touch on aspects of those skills in other high school classes, but none at the level that you will in AP Seminar/Research. Being able to comfortably develop and defend a 20 page paper gives you a leg up in college preparedness.
I used the Additional Information section of Common App to write about the diploma and the research project I was working on in AP Research. I’ve also put information about my research from that course on my resumé, which has helped me get some research positions while in college.