<p>Is it true that the more AP you take, the better chance that you will get accepted to Ivy schools? </p>
<p>Depends on what you mean by “more”.</p>
<p>If you are at a school whose most rigorous courses are several AP courses, taking those courses over taking none of them is likely very helpful.</p>
<p>But if you will be taking several “core” AP courses (English, calculus, a science, a history or social studies, a foreign language, and perhaps an art or other course(s)) anyway, then the marginal value of accumulating additional ones, particularly the “AP lite” ones like human geography and psychology, starts getting into diminishing returns. To some extent it also matters what the threshold for your counselor is to mark the “most demanding schedule” on the counselor report.</p>
<p>I am taking some AP but not all of them…
I am taking/took…</p>
<p>AP Government and Politics
AP Calculus AB
AP English Language and Composition
AP Chemistry
AP Psychology</p>
<p>I am going to take next year…</p>
<p>AP Biology
AP Calculus BC
AP English Literature
AP Environmental Science</p>
<p>There is definitely a roll-off point where taking more is of marginal value, though it certainly does help. And the more “core” they are, the better. As has been discussed elsewhere, the roll-off point appears to be about 6, with some additional, small benefits for each additional one beyond that, up to about 10. Beyond that, the sample size is too small to be evaluated, but there are people who report 15 and being denied, so they don’t make you a lock, no matter how many you take.</p>
<p>All selective colleges compare your transcript, along with your AP classes, to the rest of the student body at your high school. It doesn’t matter if another student across the country is taking a gazillion AP’s – it matters how many AP classes are offered at your high school, the average number of AP’s a student is taking at your high school, the number of AP’s YOU are taking by comparison, and your AP scores. FWIW; You could take 10 AP classes and score 3 or 4’s on the tests, but not be in the same league as someone at your school who took 6 AP’s and scored a 5 on each test.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. It depends on what one’s High School offers. If if offers no AP classes, you aren’t going to be penalized for taking/not taking them. If one’s high school offers a fair amount, a rigorous courseload will show you can handle college classes.</p>
<p>So basically the more AP classes you take that your high school offers is more better?</p>
<p>^^ Yes, provided you get 5’s on the tests (at least for the most selective colleges).</p>
<p>Also, don’t exclude other core courses to take additional “AP lite” courses.</p>
<p>For example, taking AP human geography instead of a level 4 foreign language course might not look too good to colleges that want to see higher level achieved in foreign language. Taking AP environmental science to the exclusion of any physics course might not look too good to colleges that want to see all three of biology, chemistry, and physics.</p>
<p>How do colleges compare homeschool student’s transcript rigor? Some families don’t have the resources for online AP classes, etc. I know the question is specific to homeschooling but it seems on topic here. If admissions compares students within schools–how does that work with homeschoolers. Thank you!</p>
<p>Some home school students take a greater than usual number of achievement-type tests (SAT subject tests and AP tests) in order to show some external validation of what they learned. Some of the more advanced home school students take some courses at a local college while still officially in home school high school.</p>
<p>@coh2272: no, it’s not “the more your take, the better”. You should try to have about 6, preferably “core” and/or related to your future major if you’re not totally undecided. For instance, if you intend to major in Art History, it’s probably a better idea to have AP Art History, AP Studio Art, AP European History, AP World History, and AP Foreign Language than to have only one-two of those in order to fit AP Environmental, AP Chem, and AP Calc. However if you intend on majoring in STEM, you should take AP Calc, and as many AP sciences as you can, including Physics or Chem if possible.
Overall, if you are so advanced that you could take more than 6-8 AP classes, you’d be better served taking the next level in the sequence at a community college if it’s at all possible. For instance, if you’re among the very rare students who took Calc BC as a junior, you’d be better served for the most selective colleges if you took Calc 3 in the Fall at your local community college, followed by a more advanced math course in the Spring (that would be indicated in your transcript and would definitely help for highly competitive admissions).
If your high school only offers 2-3-4 APs, you should take the classes and study on your own to show you can get a 4 or a 5.</p>
<p>…the more AP classes you take that your high school offers is more better?
It depends. The answer is always, “it depends.” On your major, other interests and how truly prepared you are for that level of work. They’re not giving extra points for more, “just because.” </p>
<p>You can’t give a target number because some it depends on the mix the hs offers. </p>
<p>And, say you have 6 or 10 and they all make sense and they are all 5’s. You can still get in a mess if the rest of your app doesn’t pass holistic expectations. </p>
<p>The first question isn’t quantity.
And self study doesn’t always make sense. </p>
<p>Although 5’s are ideal, they’re not totally necessary - D took 10 APs, 8 core, got a mix of 3, 4, and 5, and managed to do pretty well - not Ivy, but top 15 liberal arts.</p>
<p>Taking more AP classes would indicate your rigorous course load. That would be a good thing for your application. However, there is no fix number or threshold for that. It will depend on what your school offers. Moreover, it is equally important (or sometimes more important) to maintain a good GPA. If your GPA (weighted or unweighted) suffers because of that, it may have some negative impact on your application. AP test scores have less influence on your application except for some top schools. You only need to self-report AP scores on applications. They are most critical for earning credits as the AP scores are usaually sent to the registrar office of the school you are going to enroll only. Nevertheless, the AP scores may get you one of the AP scholar titles to put in the award section.</p>
<p>@isaelijohjac, regarding homeschoolers, I don’t see why it would be much different for AP courses. You can certainly find out what texts are commonly used, and you have detailed curriculum info and even test prep books to help you make sure you cover the material. Of course it may be difficult to do this for foreign languages and lab sciences, but since there are significant issues homeschooling those subjects at any level, I’m not sure it makes sense to single out AP. Also, for other subjects, like AP gov, you’d miss out on the simulations, like model congress, which is about half the course in our school. But lack of collaboration and interaction is going to be an issue for anything you homeschool.</p>