Why not just ask the school for the analytics for the last 3 graduating classes or even just last year’s class? This will give you a clue of how many Aps the kids that got accepted took.
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Trust me, there is a Big difference.
I’m sorry, saying “trust me” doesn’t trump years of experience in the matter. The way kids see things isn’t the way adcoms at highly selective colleges see them; that’s why you have so many kids who are disapointed because they had more AP’s or higher test scores than X whom they know in their school who got into a school they wanted yet didn’t get into…
“Just take as many as you can so that you have more than others in your class” is just bad advice.
Stanford used to say “it’s not a game of who has the most Ap’s, wins”, and it encapsulates things well.
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No there’s not. Again, context matters. 15 easy APs or 15 APs with B’s is not preferable to 10 solid AOs with A’s
Any argument that starts “Trust me” often means that the argument is weak.
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That’s just an expression. LOL
We’re not comparing As and Bs, and weaker and strong APs. I’m talking the same or similar ones.
ORM here in a very competitive school 
Decent athlete but I do not think I want to be recruited.
Can you list your classes in each category, as taken this year, scheduled for next year, and planned for 11-12th grade?
ENGLISH:
MATH:
SOCIAL SCIENCE/HISTORY:
SCIENCE:
FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
PERSONAL PICKS/ELECTIVES:
Looking at the 3 profilesin #35, assuming all 3 are from your school and all 3 are applying to Cornell, what would you think about each wrt academic interests?
A better expression to have used is “IMO.” 
You’d still be hella wrong, but you’re entitled to your opinion.
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It can make a big difference though in class ranking, GC determination of rigor, LORs, etc…
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I don’t think that is the case, as the track records of your “very competitive school” to these universities, give the admission officers credence to your school’s rigor and help them to calibrate the students course work.
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The question here is how many do these schools require. Actually, they require no AP courses. But applicants should take a challenging courseload in high school to be competitive applicants.
If the high school offers AP courses and the applicant takes none…that would be a disadvantage.
If the high school offers no AP courses and the student doesn’t take any, that wouldn’t be a disadvantage as long as the rest of the application is strong. IOW, you can’t take what the school doesn’t offer.
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Where do you get the idea that someone needs AP classes in 4 of the 5 core classes? That’s not true. I have a kid at an Ivy who didn’t have APs in 4 of the 5 core classes and yes our school offered them. It really depends on the area you’re going into, not to mention if your schedule even allowed it in high school.
She is also not a URM or other minority or first gen or anything like that.
Also to the OP with TO out there now even though you have a few years to go, it is changing how admissions are doing everything. Here is some acceptance info for the Ivies from this year Acceptance Rates at Ivy League & Elite Colleges – Class of 2025 - College Transitions
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The “it depends” answer has already been provided. So, I provided the “rule of thumb” answer - if aiming for an Ivy, you’re better off with strength in most academic areas, although there are exceptions (scheduling issues or APs not being offered being 100% valid reasons, for instance).
However, taking every STEM AP your HS offers and just regular classes for everything else (a hypothesis we see often on these boards, “so that I can focus on my future major”) typically won’t cut it at a school like Cornell even if you apply for STEM . Curriculum rigor needs to be balanced across subjects, within reason. High schools aren’t supposed to train specialists. Even math geniuses or Carnegie Hall musicians need academic rigor in subjects other than their strength. On the other hand, you do not necessarily need all science courses to be AP’s (also asserted on these boards), Bio/Chem/physics + 1 of them at the AP level would be perfectly fine, or Bio/chem + AP Physics1+ one more also. You can pick English Lang OR English Lit not both (or English Honors or both).
The quality of your Hs also matters: if your choice is AP English Language and Honors English where the typical junior has to write a 5-page paper, then you’re doing well, but if the typical junior English class only teaches you how to write a 5-paragraph essay (and occasionally at that) then you’re better off with AP English.
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There’s no formula. It wouldn’t be called holistic admissions, otherwise. The number of AP classes isn’t what matters, even in the conext of how many of them the HS offers. If the HS offers many (and they’re among the most challenging at the HS), the student certainly needs to take at least some of them (and do well) to demonstrate s/he is up to the challenge. I agree with @MYOS1634 that what really matters is the collection of such courses that help convince colleges of the student’s suitability by exhibiting the student’s strengths in a range of subject areas. Colleges like students who demonstrated that they can succeed in new subject areas or areas outside of their comfort zones because it may become a necessity in college.
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How are AP US Government and AP Comp Gov viewed relative to other elective APs? Is it overkill to take both?
It is not overkill to take both if you have an interest in the topic; they are sufficiently different.
There is no such thing as a bad AP, other than APHG IMO (and even that is fine for 9th grade practice). But gov is not viewed on the same rigor level as Physics C or Calc BC. It’s about the same level as econ, psych, or stats.
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You want to take hard courses and get an unweighted GPA higher than 3.74 in order to be more competitive for the most selective colleges. The minimum is to get your counselor’s indication that you chose the “most demanding” courses and that you are “one of the top few (top 1%) encountered” for academic achievement. Whether or not, in the context of your school, this requires taking some number of AP courses (and often which specific ones), is something you need to talk to your counselor about. In addition, colleges may look beyond the counselor’s marks here and consider which actual courses (AP or otherwise) you chose.
Of course, while demonstrated academic strength is necessary for admission to the most selective colleges, it is generally not sufficient by itself.
Remember also that just because a course is AP does not mean that it will impress, especially if it displaces other core courses. For example, choosing AP statistics, AP human geography, and AP psychology in place of precalculus, physics, and foreign language level 3 or 4 may be seen negatively.
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More than none, but quality and context matters more than quantity. As others have posted, there is no magic number. I have one kid in a school that has a lot of AP opportunities but only for juniors and seniors; I have another who is applying to college who has yet to take an AP class and is taking 3 senior year.
As an Ivy alum who is involved in interviewing applicants, and as a former faculty member, I can tell you that AP courses are not the end-all and be-all of a transcript. Sure, they are challenging, but they are not college-level courses (definitely not Ivy level at least). Thus don’t take AP courses under the expectation that you will use them to place out of intro level classes. Even if you get a 5 in AP Calc, for example, I would absolutely take Calc 101. I had many students who got 5s in AP Stats and desperately needed my university’s Stats 101 class.
My advice - treat AP classes like honors classes, and only take them in subjects that you do very well in and have a strong interest in. It doesn’t make sense to take AP Comp Sci if you are interested in French Literature, for example. You want your transcript to reflect who you are, to display growth, to show how you took advantage of academic opportunities available to you, and to demonstrate an example of your intellectual acumen and curiosity.
More than 5 would be excessive in my view
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If the college allows credit for or advanced placement beyond Calc 101 in this case, shouldn’t we assume that the college knows that students with 5 on AP calculus are capable of moving on? Of course, students who are unsure can try the college’s old Calc 101 final exams to check their knowledge against the college’s standards in order to make a more informed placement decision, instead of potentially wasting (approximately) 1/32 of their college academic experience repeating what they already know.
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I’m in a similar school, so I can give advice, but not sure about your specific environment. Kids who get into ivies from here, as a GENERAL RULE, have already maxed out every AP and Honors course available, with about an UW of 3.95+. This is the rule, but I saw someone get in two years ago with an UW of 3.9, however they had hooks. Does your school allow you to take APs freshman year? Many competitive NE publics do.
I am now worried that since many competitive students take around 3 APs in Sophomore year
This statement kind of answers your question. If students who are aiming for ivies at your school are doing this, and you are only taking 2 honors and 1 AP, you are going to be behind.
Really, the best thing to do is look at your naviance, but remember you never know hooks or ECs off of the scattergrams so if you see someone who is an outlier I wouldn’t take that as a rule.
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