<p>I'd like to think I'm Ivy caliber, and I didn't take AP English. In my school, AP English is a very competitive course, and it's much easier to take another AP like Environmental Science. It's much easier to take a Science AP in my school than English.</p>
<p>So, long story short, no. In my opinion/experience, AP English is not a staple course for an Ivy League student.</p>
<p>According to some of the people here, I guess it depends on how competitive the course is in your school. In my school, there's an application, along with an essay, and a test, and this is all just to get into AP English. AP English is a class of 16 people (at most) in my school per year, and only those who are actually amazing at English consider applying. So taking, for instance, Comedic Literature or Contemporary Fiction is not considered the easy route in my school.</p>