21:okay, that makes a lot of sense!
Indeed, AP’s are divided into three, unequal groups: we shall call these groupes “core”, “complementary” and “light”.
The “core” APs are the most important. A very strong student should have one in each subject, or a very strong/well lopsided student would have all in his/her related fields. Those include AP English Lang&Lit, AP Foreign Language, AP bio/chem/physics (1, 2, and C), Calculus (AB or BC), and all AP History. AP Lang is often considered a “given” for high-level colleges where this course is basically the default preparation course for college-level writing.
The “complementary” APs are recognized as having high course rigor but aren’t as “necessary” as the above. Those include AP CS, AP Art History, AP music theory, 2D, 3D, AP Gov, AP Econ (Micro+ macro).
The “AP Lights” are good as complement to core AP’s (ie., AP Bio AND APES, AP Calc AND AP Stats, APUSH AND AP Gov); as a good way to increase rigor for students who are not otherwise taking core/complementary APs, are in regular and honors courses and want to challenge themselves; as gateway courses for freshmen/sophomores to learn about AP rigor and format; as substitute for Honors Classes in HS where the class is only offered as an elective or AP. Those include AP Stats, AP Environmental, AP Human Geog, Ap Psych.
At Harvard, a student who has 7 APs, but the 4 AP lites, AP Lang, AP Gov, and AP Macro, does not have the same schedule as someone who also took 7APs include APLang, AP Physics, APUSh, APHistory, AP Foreign Language, AP Calc AB, and AP 2D, provided both attend the same school and have similar grades. Taking 3-4 per year with 2-3 core, 1-2 complementary/light AP each of junior and senior year, after 1 “gateway” AP freshman/sophomore year, would cover pretty much any scenario a college may wish.
Note that for a student whose HS offers only 8 APs, the first schedule would be considered very, very rigorous.
In any case, a student applying to Harvard with the second schedule (above) wouldn’t be at a disadvantage compared to a student who took 12 or 14 APs, and would be at an advantage if that freed more time to devote to meaningful or unique ECs.
So, it’s not about the number, it’s about how meaningful the choice is (SO glad to hear your GC clearly stated it’s not about how many Aps you take!)
Not sure yet about which group AP Seminar and AP Capstone belong to.