There is National AP Scholar with Honors / Distinction / etc. AP sends you a little certificate and email notification
In looking at the Collegeboard data for 2014, there were about 26000 National AP scholars and only about 5000 achieved that status by end of their Jr. Year .
National AP Scholars are actually less appealing than the State AP scholars. Again, AP scores have little weight in admission for most schools. If submitted, they will use that to evaluate your grades of the AP classes at school. Harvard would treat your AP scores as additional subject test scores after the SAT2 requirement if submitted. Although they have a study showing the chance of success in college correlate with the performance in AP exams. They know many small school district could not even afford to have AP classes. Also, many schools do not offer AP classes before senior year. So they cannot really use that as a criteria but just a reference.
Also note that, AP scores submitted to college will be likely directed to the registrar office instead of admission office.
Well, sure. And State AP scholars are less appealing than Nobel Prize winners, but you do what you can. 
The HS profile will answer the question of whether you are taking full advantage of the rigor at YOUR school. If your school only allows seniors to take AP courses, your HS profile will – or should – let colleges know that.
Op,
Your question about how AP classes affect admissions depends on what selectivity of school your kid is going for.
Usually the number of APs is much lower on the list of what say an Adcom may look at. (Let’s say that UW GPA is most impt, then SAT1/ACT, then SAT2s, then ECs, then essay, then # of APs). So if kid is going to super selective college, then yes, you need all items on the app to look top notch and APs will have a slight tipping point. For less selective colleges, APs probably don’t matter at all.
As for scores on AP tests, I guess it depends on how rigorous your kid’s HS is or how much they teach to the test. Really, if kid misses 33% and scores a 67% on the AP, they can still be awarded a 5 on the test. So to take a bunch of AP classes and get 3s on them does not reflect well on the applicant and they should not have taken the AP level to begin with.
About National AP Merit: it’s pretty tough to get 8 APs by end of jr yr. There may be some public HS that offer a ton of APs so the rare kid might be able to get it all thru classwork, but it’s hard to imagine. Kid would have to take all of the weird, easy APs as a frosh to be able to do it. I would think that 8APs by jr yr looks like kid is “studying to a test” or only taking classes based on applications rather than interest, so would imagine that it does not help their application much. I don’t think that very many of the matriculates at Harvard had 8 APs by Jr yr.
However, there is also the other levels of AP merit scholar with distinction , scholar, etc, by Jr yr which are totally doable without self study.
I think that self studying for APs looks good if the HS does not offer many APs so kid needed to do it (small schools, rural schools, inner city schools), but bad if there are plenty of APs to take that the HS so kid is AP grubbing.
Op said
"I would think that “self-study” for an AP test is the best proof of student’s commitment and study skills. I think it is really remarkable to self-study for AP Calculus, for example. "
Why wouldn’t or couldn’t she take that AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC that was offered at her HS? Why would she need to self study for it?
You are right, it is “National AP Scholar: Granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams”.
Ok, looks like it is not the right prize to chase. My D is not likely to get State AP scholars unless we temporarily move to Nevada. No chance in California.
Op said,
"My D was advised to apply to some soft major to Ivys or undecided and switch once accepted. "
Yale for sure does not accept by major. They consider all frosh applicants to be undeclared. I believe same is true for H & P.
I looked at http://www.parchment.com/c/college/ec-award-538-National_AP_Scholar.html
Looks like National AP Scholar is pretty useless 
Thank you for the discussion!
just because an award for attaining a level of achievement does not guarantee acceptance at top colleges [btw- NOTHING does that- ask the Intel finalist who arent admitted to MIT or Harvard] does NOT make it useless!
sheesh---- you need get a better perspective or you may poison the atmosphere at your home and make your DD feel useless.
Maybe you don’t mean it like it sounds to me, OP, but chasing the “right prizes” is not the best mindset for supporting your child in her college search.
As far as college admissions goes, if AP courses are the most rigorous courses offered in the high school, taking some of them would be desirable from the point of college admission. Of course, there may be a few super-elite high schools where AP courses are not the most rigorous courses offered; in these cases, college admission readers will favor students who take whatever are the most rigorous courses offered.
In terms of credit and/or placement in college for AP scores, check each college for its policies.
Some scores for AP exams will be admissable for college credits and may save you money. It maybe even difference between 4 and 5. So, if you want to focus on specific area in college, (like Bio, for example), it is great to ger rid of some classes in HS that are hard for you. Frankly, admission is one prospective, another one is an aim at the very high GPA in college. I do not know anything about admission except for admission to some selective programs where applicant has no chance to be admitted if he does not have significant number of AP’s with high grades on the exams and even few SATII’s would be advisable. Anyway, taking care of some college credits that one is not planning to focus on at college anyway is a very good idea.
What grade is your child? It sounds like you’re trying to gather “trophies” to gain Ivy admissions and want the easiest path. I’m not sure that’s the way it works. Let your daughter be the student she is, and chances are she’ll do fine in the admissions process.
My daughter will have taken 9, maybe 10 AP classes by the time she graduates this June. (5 scores of 4 so far) But she takes them because she wants to take the classes. Is it the most rigorous schedule? Actually no but she’s not a high stat / high GPA kid. She enjoyed the classes. The scores just reaffirmed that she learned the material. I’m not sure she will use any scores to place out of classes in college. Maybe.
The point is, she took the classes and exams irrespective of the AP Scholar thing. You want your child to work to her full potential because that’s the right thing to do.
FWIW, Penn admits by school (CAS,SEAS, Wharton, etc). It is near impossible to go from CAS (I’m guessing that would be your “soft”) to either SEAS and Wharton as a sophomore or junior. As for changing majors within a school, that just involves paperwork at the dean’s office; it’s done in a second. My father found that out - I changed majors on a semi-annual basis.
I also think that some not super rigorous private schools limit AP access, whether this is to protect the pass rate or that they have such limited teaching resources, but they seem to create an anti AP idea among parents who are a bit clueless.
SlackerMomMD <let your="" daughter="" be="" the="" student="" she="" is,="" and="" chances="" are="" she’ll="" do="" fine="" in="" admissions="" process.="">
I really like it 
I wonder, what am I doing in the office today? Why am I working? It looks like all I need is “to be what I am and everything will be fine”. Bills will be paid, food will be cooked, house will be cleaned. Things will take care of themselves. Have fun and be yourself. Do to the beach, Maria! Enjoy life! Have fun! Magic elf will take care of everything …
Where is this magic in adult life? Or does it work during admission process only?
@ SlackerMomMD <my daughter="" will="" have="" taken="" 9,="" maybe="" 10="" ap="" classes="" by="" the="" time="" she="" graduates="" this="" june.="">
Congrats to your D!
@ Youdon’tsay<maybe you="" don’t="" mean="" it="" like="" sounds="" to="" me,="" op,="" but="" chasing="" the="" “right=”" prizes"="" is="" not="" best="" mindset="" for="" supporting="" your="" child="" in="" her="" college="" search.="">
We (yes, we) are chasing the right college. To get accepted, you have to get through the quest, like in computer game. The quest is illogical and unpredictable.
I learned the rules of the quest when my D was in the second grade. She was great in math and reasonably good in English. To get permission from school to advance in math … she had to improve her English Why? Alice in wonderland, parallel logic.
California- you misinterpreted. The point is not that your D should spend HS playing video games (or that you should quit your job and head to the beach) and it will all be fine. The point is that EVEN IF your D does everything right, her chances at one of the mega selective schools is still very small. So far better to have YOUR D lead the way with what she’s interested in (where she is likely to do well- because she’s interested) vs. having a parent dictate “AP Chem- yes. AP History- no”.
And to your point about starting with an “easy” or whatnot major- if your D tells the folks at Yale that she intends to be a Classics major and has never taken Greek or Latin (or shown any proficiency in either language elsewhere in her application) that’s likely to get a laugh but not an admissions nod. Yale doesn’t care what she intends to major in – but trying to weed out the phonies is part of the job.
@ MiamiDAP, <frankly, admission="" is="" one="" prospective,="" another="" an="" aim="" at="" the="" very="" high="" gpa="" in="" college.=""></frankly,>
One step at a time, first, she needs to finish HS, get accepted into college. … then it is really her problem. As one mother said, the fetus is considered viable when it moves to college.