<p>What do top-tier schools usually look for? I have four SAT Subject Tests and eight AP exams in mind but I'm wondering if this is "too much." I go to an IB school, so AP classes aren't readily available, but I was planning on taking the IB counterpart and studying for the AP exam separately. What do you think?</p>
<p>No such thing as “too much”.</p>
<p>Christiansoldier’s stats:
GPA: 4.81 (Rank 1 of 790)
SAT: 2400
PSAT: 234 (National Merit Semifinalist)
ACT: 35 (English 36, Math 35, Reading 36, Science 33, Essay 11)
SAT II:
800 Math II,
790 Chem,
800 World History,
800 US History,
800 Physics,
800 Bio-E</p>
<p>APs: 5 World History,
5 Euro History,
5 Human Geography,
5 Chem,
5 Bio,
5 Physics B,
5 CalcAB,
5 US History,
5 Art History,
5 US Government,
5 English Language and Composition,
5 EnviroSci,
5 Psychology</p>
<p>He got deferred Yale EA.</p>
<p>i dont know but GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!</p>
<p>EricLee - WOW. Those are possibly the best scores I’ve ever seen! I’m surprised he got deferred.</p>
<p>^ Lack of ECs.</p>
<p>Yeah but then again I only took/will have taken 6 APs and I got into Brown ED, and one of my friends got into Yale SCEA with only 5, so you never know. Take as many as you can while still maintaining a good GPA.</p>
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<p>pyroza: That doesn’t look like a lack of ECs to me.</p>
<p>Yale probably had their reasons, although he looks like a great candidate.</p>
<p>Anyways, enough gossip about him lol. 
Based on the classes I’m taking, I have about 10 AP and 10 SAT tests that I could take that actually relate to my classes. If hypothetically, I were to take all ten (yikes?!) AP and SAT tests, would colleges see me as a college-obsessed person and label me as too much of a nerd?</p>
<p>Wow… Those were amazing stats… I can’t believe it. Maybe the conservatism was the cause?</p>
<p>I’d say… 10+?</p>
<p>I’ll have around 13-15.</p>
<p>who knowsss =[</p>
<p>2290 sat, 2360 SAT II, 5s on 5 ap tests, and deferred by yale too</p>
<p>Ever seen fight club?</p>
<p>You are not your test score.</p>
<p>You can take a butt load of AP’s and SAT II’s and do stellar on them, but so can any other kid around the world.
Don’t spend your entire high school career dedicating yourself to tests
go participate in something unique, go volunteer to make a difference in your community.</p>
<p>In my opinion, and I’m sure many will agree with me, more than 3-4 SAT II’s will just be a waste of your time.</p>
<p>If you need any more proof check the previous posts about the kids with amazing scores who didn’t quite cut it at Yale…</p>
<p>Legendofandrey is right. Yale gets piles of applications from kids with high GPA’s and tons of AP credits and lots of school-related EC’s. If you want to stand out, you’ve got to do something unique that shows them where your passion really lies. Adcoms want to know who you are as well as what you can do.</p>
<p>leadlol: there’s nothing on that list that really stands out to me. Nothing unique or particularly interesting</p>
<p>Yeah, Yale’s known for hating conservatives :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>Really? You can’t be serious.</p>
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<p>Really, if you take too many APs and tests colleges may get the impression that you are always holed up in your room studying until your eyes tear up around 4 am each morning and that you don’t have a life. (Especially if one’s Asian, I think. The Asian stereotype is very much alive in many admissions offices, as much as they want to deny that.)</p>
<p>Take enough so that you are competitive (i.e. you like to challenge yourself) but taking every single AP or SAT II does not guarantee admission, or even a higher rate of admission than one who took six or seven.</p>
<p>EricLee #19, I also thought the EC’s in that list were unimpressive. Most of them were just run-of-the-mill high school stuff. The way I read those last two EC’s is: 1) I had a summer job sorting papers in a state office, and 2) I worked a phone bank with a bunch of other volunteers. It’s better than making fries at McDoogle’s, but that’s about all.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks for all of your advice! Would picking my favorite and most confident courses to take APs and SATs in be reasonable then, and see where that takes me? I was planning on taking the ten because they correspond with my classes, but I suppose that would be too much.</p>