I have realized that many CC experts or senior members view these three AP courses as easy or light. There seems to be a general feeling that college admissions don’t take these courses seriously. Not every kid wants to takes physics, chemistry, and calculus, so I find that viewpoint hard to swallow. For example, my kid wants to study psychology. She is smart and scored well on all her SAT tests. It is very obvious why she would want to study those subjects. My son wants to study business, and has valid reasons for wanting to study those APs too. I would love to,hear from a senior member of CC who can confirm that there is an assumption amongst admissions committees that these AP don’t hold as much weight as others. If so, why?
“Also, be honest with yourself when assessing two “equal” options. Yes, AP Statistics and AP Calculus are both advanced level math courses, but you and I both know which one is harder. (AP Calc is harder. There. I said it.)”
- From a Tufts admissions officer
No one’s saying students shouldn’t take AP Psych, Human Geo, Stats, Environmental Sciences, etc. but they should also have more rigorous ones like APUSH, English, Calc, Bio/Chem/Physics, etc.
My dyslexic and dysgraphic son will never take AP Eng Lang or Lit, but he plans on taking AP Chem and Calc at some point. It would be grossly unfair for a college to judge him based on never taking higher level AP English couses. So let’s say he does AP Chem, Stats, Econ (both), Calc, WH, Psych and Human Geo. It is fair to say that is a rgirous course load, and it is quite obvious, with the exception of chem, why a kid planning to study business would want to take all those classes. But would a college think that course load is weak?
Then by all means he should study them.
I think it’s all in context. There’s nothing wrong with taking AP Psych if the schedule also has some of the more “challenging” AP’s. AP courses, any AP course, will add to rigor, which is a good thing.
Bingo.
Now my answer does change when the question asked is “Should I take AP Calc AB or AP Stats (as opposed to both)?” 
@skieurope , He should take AP Calc and AP Stats, definitely. However, a new wrench will be thrown in the works when our high school introduces the IB in his junior year. I am not terribly familiar with IB and am trying to learn more. Does anyone know if IB standard level classes are like regular classes, or are they more rigorous, like an Honors class?
IB SL are more rigorous than a standard class, but not, in general, as rigorous as an AP class. IB HL are at or beyond the rigor of an AP class.