So this year, my senor year, I’ve taken 3 AP’s: Physics B, English Lit and Comp, and World History. I decided against taking AP French and AP Calc BC or AP Stats. In my Junior year, I took APUS and got a 4. My school is small and doesn’t offer many AP’s, only 10 total. Will it matter that some kid took 11 of the 25 AP’s that his school offered, but I only took 4 of the 10 that my school offered, or is it kind of assumed that there are only a few core AP’s, and the rest that a school might offer would be kind of fluffer AP classes. I know there isn’t a whole lot I can do to change the amount of AP’s I’ve taken, but when I look at threads where kids are taking 6 AP’s a year, I get a bit anxious.
It’s all about the context of your school. That your school only offers 10 will help. However, it all depends on what other students at your school are taking. If those at the top of the class are taking ~4APs, then you’re fine. However, if they’re taking ~7, then there might be a problem. IMO not taking Calc BC will hurt the most since it is a “core” AP
Yeah I know, I took regular Calc instead, but regular Calc is basically AP Calc AB, we have the option of taking the AP at the end of the year and we cover all the stuff that AB would cover, its just not called an AP.
Colleges look at you in the context of your school, so you should just try to do what the best kids at your school are doing, not what kids at other schools are doing. If you want to impress colleges you can try self-studying APs.
And no not all APs are equal, I’m sure most schools consider AP BC Calc harder than AP Stats.
Also it depends on what colleges you want to apply to. If Ivy league, then yes. If your State U, then probably not.
@MrDoctor " If you want to impress colleges you can try self-studying APs."
This is false. Colleges are not impressed by self-studying. It does not increase your course rigor.As it is, AP scores have little to no bearing on admissions.
As usual, I agree with @guineagirl96 .
From personal experience, last Spring, I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.