Exactly how important is it to take AP courses?

<p>Some schools do ask you to list AP exams taken. Harvard asks for the date of exams taken and the score. The UC application does as well. For those schools, it speaks to your willingness to challenge yourself if you take an exam without having taken the course.</p>

<p>If you have taken AP's and done well, it would be noted on your app in the awards section. You could disclose that you were an AP Scholar of some sort, if you are fortunate to take enough AP's and do well on them. I would have to think that would carry some weight within the context of your application.</p>

<p>Northeastmom2: Taking multiple subject tests is a great idea but I hear that colleges simply take the two highest scores and DISCARD all the others....i.e, they don't even transfer the extra information beyond the initial screening. Do you know for sure that the extra subject scores do help?</p>

<p>^I don't think. Usually take a few SAT subject tests and able to score higher than 700 make a student a stronger candidate.</p>

<p>What I meant by adcoms know this and scratch their head, is that when they look at your transcript and see your actual classes and than the student hands in all of these AP tests with no school transcript to back it, they ? how did this happen. Colleges are going to put more weight on the school transcript to see the type of classes than the student taking self-guided AP's, in particular, IVIES and even many competitive State U's. Remember even if your school doesn't weight it doesn't matter the univ. is informed if they have AP/IB and which courses are offered. Thus, in the end of the day, what the student just told them was they were not good enough to get into the AP to start with, thus not competitive against the other students. Initiative is great, but it isn't going to get past the adcom as academically competitive</p>

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what the student just told them was they were not good enough to get into the AP to start with, thus not competitive against the other students

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<p>I see now. Do you think the admissions folks ever look beyond the mere fact of AP/no AP - do you think they ever consider the gatekeeping that apparently takes place with regard to access to AP, etc.? Jay Mathews has made an issue of this. Access has been an issue for my late bloomer. I think the schools are really off base when they gatekeep.</p>

<p>VicariousParent: I don't really know if taking more SAT IIs would help - My d took 3 -- but some of her friends have taken 5. One even has retaken them multiple times !!</p>

<p>I haven't heard that schools take the top 2 only. That wouldn't make sense. If the school requires a science or Math, and that's not one of your top 2 -- they can't ignore it. My d got 760, 790, and 680 - but the 680 was on Math 2c, and the others were on English & History.</p>

<p>In fact, for home schooling kids, college prefers more SAT subject tests. So their software must be able to handle multiple SAT subject tests.</p>

<p>I would say AP courses are important if you're going to do well in them.</p>

<p>Along the same train of thought as the poster above me, it has been stressed multiple times that it is better to take AP courses and receive B's than it is to take regular classes and receive A's.</p>

<p>AP -scores- aren't as important as taking the actual classes. I knew someone who got 3's on nearly all her APs, but she was taking like 7 of them in one year. She was accepted to her top-choice college.</p>

<p>AP courses display your dedication to the subject and your willingness to pursue a difficult class. Especially if you're taking APs related to your major, if you can land at least a 90 UW in each class you're already better off than many others. Take as many AP classes as you can handle - you don't always have to take the test if you feel nervous about doing well.</p>

<p>Is there a good chance that you will still be accepted to an Ivy league school with only 1 AP class under your belt?
-> Unless they aren't offered widely at your school, I highly doubt it. You're competing against a bunch of other students with 5+ APs. If you're stuck in this position your best bet is to do outside research/internships, take SAT subjects, and participate in academic ECs to supplement what you're missing. Oh, and summer school college programs don't hurt either ;D</p>

<p>bumpers.............</p>

<p>Is it better to have like a 3.4 GPA with 9 AP's or a 3.6 GPA with none?</p>