<p>I am a sophomore going into junior year who hasn't taken any AP classes yet. I will be taking 4 AP's next year. How many do the accepted applicants usually take in HS? If you are/were a student, how many did you take?</p>
<p>I took 11 with 4 that were self-studied. No score lower than a 4.</p>
<p>There is no certain amount as it varies by school. You gotta remember that there are schools out there with limited options when it comes to APs. Colleges are looking for you to take the most challenging coursework you can, not necessarily take the most APs.</p>
<p>That said, my friend who is going to Cornell this fall had the following schedule:</p>
<p>Sophomore year: 2 APs
Junior Year: 4 APs
Senior year: 4 APs</p>
<p>Coming from a fairly competitve public school. APs aren’t the say all end all of college admissions.</p>
<p>So, if my school doesn’t allow us to take any sophomore year the colleges will acknowledge that? Also, is 5 AP’s too much for Junior year?</p>
<p>OP, if you are not allowed to take them, you will not be penalized. AP curriculum varies by school. Some schools have 25, so it is expected that students take around 10. Some schools have 5 available, so if you take 3, you will be fine.</p>
<p>You have to compare yourself to your schoolmates.</p>
<p>That said my D took 13 AP’s.
Sophomore - 1
Junior - 5
Senior - 6</p>
<p>My school offers only two AP classes, so I felt like I was at a significant disadvantage. I took both (one in sophomore year, one in junior year) and then took a third online my senior year. Cornell took into account the fact that I was limited due to my school and accepted me anyway. So clearly there is no set number you need to take. Just challenge yourself as much as your environment will allow.</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending Cornell in the fall, and took every the AP our school offers: APUSH as a junior (5), and AP Bio and AP Literature as a senior. Yes, only 3! Her school also has no APs for sophomores, but apparently, since she took the hardest courseload the school offers, that was enough.</p>
<p>I just noticed my mistake. D took 2 APs Sophomore. Her school offers about 25 AP classes. To be competitive one need to take at least 10 APs throughout HS.</p>
<p>What you need to be most concerned with is this; on the Common App. your guidnance counselor has to fill out a section that asks them to rate the level of difficulty in your course work. You want to make sure that they check the “took the most rigorous courses offered” box. This accounts for the difference in AP classes offered by different schools. My D took all 5 AP classes offered. I’m thinking that this is better than the student who took 6 AP classes in a school that offers 25. </p>
<p>I never understand how students can take so many APS. My kids’ high school has so many prereqs before you can take the AP course that it is hard to fit it all into your schedule. Do other schools not have prereqs for AP courses?</p>
<p>yeah dude, you can take 0 APs and still get into cornell, it all depends on your school</p>
<p>I took 12 (1 self study), and my school offered about 16 </p>
<p>Just try to maximize however many you can, and do well, don’t worry about your school being a limiting factor! </p>
<p>I’m a current student and I took 4 junior year and 5 senior year and received 5s on all exams. My school only allowed 6 classes/year so that was near the maximum. </p>
<p>Taking too many APs is a mistake. If you take 7 - 9 APs that is enough. You do not need to take more than that. Schools are more interested in students that take the ones that the think are important (English, Math, and Science for example). They also want to see a lot of 5s. A student who takes 8 APs and has six 5s and 2 4s is better off than a student with seven 3s and eight 4s. Do not spread yourself too thin. Choose the most important ones for your interests and do well on them. </p>
<p>Since AP test scores are not required in the admission process, it can not be stated that “they also want to see a lot of 5’s” here is test score requirements for Cornell. Nothing about submitting AP scores:</p>
<p>Standardized Test Scores
You must submit your scores for either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT with Writing. Some of our undergraduate colleges/schools also have specific requirements for the SAT Subject Tests. Review the Freshman Admission Requirements Chart to see what’s required. It’s your responsibility to make sure that you have taken the right Subject Tests and have the scores officially reported to Cornell from the testing agency by our application deadline. Note that Cornell requires students to submit all scores from SAT tests taken and does not participate in the College Board’s Score Choice.</p>
<p>@ConfusedMominMA
There are prerequisites in my D’s school. </p>
<p>Languages:
All Language APs has a prerequisite of 3 or more years before they can take them OR a native speaker. A lot of the kids in take 2 years of Spanish in middle school and/or native speaker so by their sophomore year (or sometimes Freshmen if they take college course from a community college or online during summer after 8th grade) they can start taking APs.</p>
<p>Math:
AP Stat - prereq is Pre-Calc or you can take it concurrently
AP Calc AB - prereq Pre Calc
AP Calc BC - prereq is AP Calc BC
A lot of kids on my D’s school start Algebra in 7th grade. Also some of them take community classes or online classes from virtual HS during summer to satisfy prereqs.</p>
<p>On Sciences, they need to take Honors or regular class first before the AP.</p>
<p>@Much2learn
It depends on the school. If the schools ranks, you don’t have a choice. If the top 20% are taking 12 or more APs, you need to be in that group. Otherwise your ranking will suffer. Of course, you need to do well on them.</p>
<p>@2018dad “It depends on the school. If the schools ranks, you don’t have a choice. If the top 20% are taking 12 or more APs, you need to be in that group. Otherwise your ranking will suffer. Of course, you need to do well on them.”</p>
<p>Yes, you are correct that taking fewer APs can impact class rank in some instances, but fewer and fewer schools use class rank and even in those schools, you may be able to substitute an Honors class instead and not hurt your class rank or take a study hall or PE class. </p>
<p>My primary point is that many students and parents think there is a competition to show as many or more APs on your transcript than other students to impress admissions offices. That is not true.</p>
<p>I have not heard any school say that more than maybe 8 or 9 AP classes, will be beneficial toward admission. North Carolina says that taking APs improves your chances for admission up to 6 APs, and no credit is given for taking more after that. Taking 15 or more APs is fine, if you can get 5s on them and still have amazing extra curricular activities. However, if you aren’t getting all As, and 5s on your AP exams, or if you don’t have a National Championship in your EC’s already, or don’t have a 2400 SAT on your application already with matching subject test scores, that time may be better spent elsewhere. </p>
<p>The best colleges want to see that you did something hard and did it well. If you got a 5’s on English Lang and Comp, English Lit and Comp, BC Calculus, and Physics C, you have told an admissions office more with 4 classes than many other students have with 15-20 APs. Most top colleges would prefer a student with 8 APs and 5s, to a student with 20 APs and 4s. They don’t care about the higher number of APs. Quality over quantity is what matters.</p>
<p>In our school, some Juniors and Seniors who are already taking 6 APs in parallel will come in at 7am to take an early PE class, so that they can take a 7th one. They think they can’t take a study hall because that would mean one fewer AP class, and they will “be behind” and not be admitted to a top school. Some even self-study for more APs in a vain attempt to impress admissions office. Some students have close to 20 APs when they are done. When they finish, they are exhausted emotionally, have no social life, and did not achieve the advantage that they were seeking. I many cases, they have actually reduced their chances for admission because their ECs are weaker. Top colleges want good students, but they also want to know how those students will be involved and contribute to the college environment outside of the class room.</p>
<p>The student who took a normal PE class during the day added a study hall to get their homework done and used their spare time to improve extracurriculars, maintain some level of social life, and improve their test scores, will actually look more impressive to admissions, with no more effort.</p>
<p>The sooner parents and students learn this, the better off they will be.</p>
<p>@much2learn…
refer to my post on the top of this page. Colleges use AP courses to gauge the rigor of your schedule vs. what is offered. You are NOT required to submit AP scores during the admission process( at least at Cornell), so you can not say “colleges prefer students with 8 AP’s & 5’s?” As I have stated in past posts , the thing that students have to be concerned about is that their guidance counselor checks the “took the most rigorous courses offered” box on the common app. If your GC considers that to be 8 of the 20 offered that is fine, but the only person who knows this is the GC, and that who students should consult, not someone on a forum. </p>