I currently attend andover, and I noticed both my school and many other top boarding schools don’t offer APs. I have decided that perhaps self studying them is better?
I’ve talked to my counselor about this, but I’m slightly worried about not being competitive enough when entering the college admission process if I have few APs compared to others who have 12.
Should I self study more (but I doubt there is adequate time in the day to day bs life), or do colleges understand schools differently?
You’re slightly exaggerating to make a point. Andover does offer AP’s, although not as many as some other HS’s. Additionally they offer many classes that are not labelled as AP, but which prepare students for the exam.
But anyway, back to your question. Many schools of this tier has eliminated or scaled back AP offerings for many reasons, including not wanting to be beholden to the CB to fix a syllabus. Every single college admissions office in the country is aware of these decisions. They are also aware that Andover and its peers offer many classes that are at or beyond AP-level. There are few HS’s in the country, for example, where a student can take a class in Organic Chemistry, Modern Physics, or Ring Theory.
There are many things to worry about in the college admissions process; this is not one of them. Good luck.
Many fine high schools have gone away from the structured AP curriculum. Don’t worry about it it terms of college admissions – every admission officer knows that Andover is an extremely rigorous HS.
In terms of if you should take AP exams, I’d discuss it with your guidance counselor and see what students typically do at your HS. Our public HS discontinued APs a while back and a number of students do take the AP exams related to subjects they take in HS. But this is done to get the college credits, not to prove the rigor of their curriculum.
"This below statement was written by members of RISC (Regional Independent School Communicators - http://www.nerisc.org/), an organization of communications professionals at independent schools throughout New England.
…In academics, many highly competitive schools are opting to forgo Advanced Placement (AP) courses in favor of creating their own demanding curricula; yet some rankings continue to list APs among the criteria of excellence."
This is referring to school rankings. Colleges are fully aware of this trend, as they track academic success.