<p>My school offers 18 APs. I know colleges want to see that you take as many APs as possible, but 18 is impossible. My school offers AP: Biology, American History, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, English Literature, Earth Science, Environmental Science, European History, French Language, Latin, Music Theory, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, Psychology, Spanish Language, Statistics and Studio Art. By the time I graduate I will have taken AP: American History, Calculus BC, French Language, Music Theory, Physics C Mechanics, Psychology and Earth Science. This is only 8 out of 18 which is not even half. Is this enough?</p>
<p>Colleges don’t necessarily want their applicants to take as many AP classes as possible.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on where you’re applying and your school’s schedule, but 8/18 seems great to me.</p>
<p>Yes, it is most definitely enough. Even the most prestigious schools( Harvard ) see and accept kids who usually have around 5-7 AP’s under their belt.
There is only some truth to one of your statements. That colleges want to see as many AP’s as possible. They want to see how many YOU can handle, without overdoing it and, essentially, doing worse in all of them then you would have if you had taken less. You could self study for a few AP’s as well. That shows determination and motivation. </p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>And by the way, that’s not 8/18. You only listed 7 AP classes. And that is still fine.</p>
<p>It may well be technically impossible to take even half of the available APs – many of them are only taught during one period and several are offered that period, so you get to choose just one.</p>
<p>By “as many as possible,” people don’t mean that you need to take every single one offered at a school that offers so many.</p>
<p>Where schools only offer 3 APs, colleges will probably be happiest if you took all 3 of those APs.</p>
<p>Where schools offer enough that you can pick and choose (18, for example), admissions officers will be looking to see that you took advantage of those opportunities and took a rigorous courseload. With that many APs, “as many as possible,” really means “as many as you can reasonably fit into your schedule while still getting good grades.”</p>
<p>Taking 7 APs out of an offered 18 is a rigorous courseload and indicates you took advantage of the offerings, so it will look great (even though there’s 11 you didn’t take, because you picked the 7 subjects you wanted).</p>
<p>Expecting you to take 18 APs would be like expecting you to take every foreign language your school offers for 4 years.</p>
<p>Basically, if you’re going to take a subject for which your school offers an AP, take the AP. If you’re interested in a subject and your school offers the AP, take the AP. If you have some soft elective and you could take an AP instead, consider taking the AP. But don’t worry about signing up for every AP you can. Seven APs is a very respectable number.</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware there is an AP Earth Science.</p>
<p>AP Earth Science is a component of the Environmental Science test. I would say that it is important for you to take AP classes that would be relevant to your major that are available. If you can take those, then it doesn’t matter too much.</p>
<p>Take 5-7 APs and do well in the exams (4 or 5). Think about your intended major/colleges and take APs that you can substitute for freshman year courses. For example, AP 3-D Studio Art, while fun and interesting (my son is taking it just for kicks) will probably not count towards any credits in college. If you are frosh or soph in HS, see if you can take an AP sophomore year, 2-3 junior year, and 2-4 senior year.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that I will also take AP Statistics</p>