the OP, AZW331, and all others who are advocating that 12 AP classes is “quite normal” need to STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS AND READ these exerts from the admissions office at Stanford -
“We want to be clear that this is not a case of “whoever has the most APs wins.”
“What a course is named or whether it concludes with a standardized test is considerably less important to us than the energy a student contributes to the learning process and the curiosity with which he or she investigates questions and pursues ideas”
" The students who thrive at Stanford are those who are genuinely excited about learning, not necessarily those who take every single AP or IB, Honors or Accelerated class just because it has that designation.”
" We expect that these students have taken high school course loads of reasonable and appropriate challenge in the context of their schools."
The words REASONABLE and APPROPRIATE are repeated numerous times through out this page, so get a grip EVERYONE- taking more AP classes than you are INTERESTED in or can handle does NOT impress admissions officers!!