Impressive to get the AP National Scholar Award before senior year?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>Students in my high school are not allowed to take any AP classes until their junior year. Many students are also in orchestra/band/chorus, so juniors+seniors cannot fit more than 2-3 AP classes into their schedule.
I'm not in orchestra, band, or chorus, so I'll be taking 4 AP classes in my junior year. I'm currently a rising sophomore and will be self studying 4 AP subjects during the school year. If I get 4 or higher on all 8 AP exams and become an AP National Scholar before senior year, would it be impressive since students in my high school can't take AP classes till 11th grade? I think I'll be the only sophomore self studying for AP exams because most students in my grade either don't know they can or don't want to. Would colleges that I apply to know that I'm the only student in my grade who got the AP National Scholar Award and take that into account? I want to apply to colleges like Columbia, but I'm sure the majority of applicants are AP National Scholars as well because their schools allow them to take AP classes before their junior year. Thanks!</p>

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<p>The majority of people applying to Columbia are NOT AP National Scholars</p>

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<p>Edit: The majority of White/Asian applicants are AP National Scholars.</p>

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<p>No they don’t, the majority probably have 3-5</p>

<p>Just look at the damn RD Threads, the average people who was accepted had 4</p>

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<p>I was wondering about this too, actually, when I got the national AP scholar award junior year. There’s a pdf file from college board out there somewhere with the number of students who got the award/took some number of exams; I’ll try to find it for you.</p>

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<p>Here we go! <a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-scholar-data-counts-2009.xls[/url]”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-scholar-data-counts-2009.xls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^1,131 American students received the National AP Scholar Award as juniors, so the award should be prestigious.</p>

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<p>I strongly doubt this. Do you have proof?</p>

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<p>Wait jerry do you mean that the award was GIVEN when the applicant was a Junior? Or that they took the number of AP’s required and got the needed scores as a junior and received the award as a senior?
Does that make sense?</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure it means they took the number of required APs May of junior year. (Otherwise, anyone who took the tests senior year and physically got the reward as a college freshman would be marked “college freshmen.”)</p>

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<p>^Ah sweet! Only 545 people got AP scholar w/ distinction within NJ. Im one of them (and the only one in the school to get an AP award)! It feels goooood!</p>

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<p>Is it prestigious to get National Scholar after sophomore year?</p>

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<p>^ thats just crazy!</p>

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<p>National AP Scholar is a great achievement, but it’s not as big of a dealmaker as people think. Look at it this way:</p>

<p>Student 1 takes 5 AP classes, and gets all 5’s. He is probably ready for college.
Student 2 takes 9 AP classes, and gets all 5’s. He is also probably ready for college.</p>

<p>In the view of the admission officer, it doesn’t make sense to pick student 2 over student 1 ONLY because of 4 more AP classes. Both have a rigorous courseload and have shown that they can handle the work. The adcom, once satisfied that both students are academically prepared, would then move on to the rest of the app.</p>