AP classes.

Test Preparation
1

<p>What is a good number of AP classes to take throughout high school?</p>

2

<p>For Ivies.... 10+ is best.
For Other Tier 1's and Top LACs... at least 7.
Good State Schools.... 3+
Community College..... None Needed.</p>

3

<p>^Unless you live in a rural/small town area where only four or five are offered. Then just take all that you can fit in and work hard. Colleges and universities understand the difficulty of taking advanced classes in a much smaller school. :)</p>

4

<p>Ivies=10+</p>

<p>What about schools that don't offer any APs? I'm self-studying to make up for the lack of APs, but will still only be able to fit in around 4-5 before admissions time due to a heavy schedule at school as well...will I be penalized for this?</p>

5

<p>The average MIT accepted student has taken five APs. That's right - just five.</p>

6

<p>You won't be penalized for taking fewer APs because your school doesn't offer them. Just take the most rigorous schedule available at your school.</p>

<p>However, self-studying shows initiative above and beyond most people. Take a rigorous schedule, and self-study for a few AP's if you can.</p>

7

<p>Okay thanks kameronsmith. :)</p>

8

<p>I think a lot of people take too many AP classes. I see people on here all the time who have 10 APs but have several 3s and 4s in that mix. I think the best scenario would be to take as many APs as you can while getting mostly 5s and some 4s. Like mathmom said, the average amount of APs taken by an accepted student at MIT was 5, not "10+." There are very few people who can take over 10 AP classes in HS and get 5s on 7 or more of them.</p>

9

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<p>Disagree. I and five other kids from my public high school were accepted to Yale early, and none of us have take more than 9 AP courses.</p>

<p>There are only so many useful APs offered that actually fit into a student's academic progression. I would assert that a kid has to really reach to put together a schedule with 10+ APs in it, and he/she would almost certainly be taking some of those only for the AP label.</p>

10

<p>Bump......</p>

11

<p>There really is no set number as to how many you should take if you want to get into top schools. Really, you just just take the most (or at least close to the most) challenging courses your high school offers. If your school offers 15 APs and you only take 3, then what do you think that's saying to the adcoms? If your school offers 4, possibly because it's such a small school, then you should take all of them.</p>

<p>It just depends on how much room you have in your schedule. My school offers 16 AP courses and I will only have taken 6 by senior year - partially because we don't start AP courses until junior year, and partially because I just don't have room in my schedule to take more.</p>

<p>Just take the most challenging courses that you can without getting overwhelmed.</p>

12

<p>mcvcm92 just said 10+ is BEST. He didn't say 10+ is REQUIRED.</p>

13

<p>Like everyone else said, it's most important to maximize the resources that your school offers you. It is also important to take what you are interested in. If you have no interest in Computer Science, then why take the AP course? If you stink at math, why take AP Calc? Schools are more interested in seeing who you are through what AP classes you took, not simply how many AP's you have.</p>