<p>When i look around this site, i see some students who have taken like 15-20 AP Exams. Now, maybe thats common place at some schools, but at mine (a competitive public school in MA), people usually take like 6-8. </p>
<p>By the end of senior year (im a rising senior) i will have taken 6 APs. However, I just feel absolutely terrified and left in the dust in competing with these uber-AP students. </p>
<p>And its not to say that I'm not academically qualified, like my SAT (2400) score points to a strong academic candidate (or so i think). </p>
<p>I dunno, can regular kids who are genuinely pretty smart, and have followed their high school's like rigorous track compete against these students who have taken all these APs? It just seems extremely overwhelming. And I dunno, do these students have genuine interest in these APs? Or are they taking them simply because they look good or sound good?</p>
<p>I dunno, any help would be appreciated. If you want to know more about me, you can check out this:</p>
<p>ya i mean people still go to harvard, cal tech, upenn from our school so i dunno how big of a deal it is. its just that our school does offer a lot of APs, but like you can only take them junior/sr year. i dunno hope the colleges take some of it into consideration</p>
<p>they won’t just “understand”, 6 AP’s a is a more than acceptable course load. Really, once you get much higher than that, most of the people taking more hang out on CC. This place isn’t representative at all.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a checkbox your guidance counselor will mark when describing your courses - “took the most rigorous courseload offered.” Thus, it is relative based on what school you go to.</p>
<p>all right cool cool, is it still like competitive for like the top schools? HYMS-ish? and thats great, thanks, you guys have really helped calmed my fears</p>
<p>oh ok wow sweet, you guys are great. i just got worried cuz i have some friends from other schools who told me they took like 10 and 15 and aren’t really where they want to be (meaning they didn’t really get in to their top)- but that could be for a few other reasons. i dunno i guess colleges really do look past it to some extent</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what other high schools offer. Your application will be judged in the context of what’s available to you at your school. As long as colleges can tell from your high school profile and your GC’s recommendation that you’ve taken the most rigorous curriculum available to you, you won’t be at a competitive disadvantage.</p>
<p>15 AP Exams = (15 x $84) $1260
20 AP Exams = $1680</p>
<p>If you have that much money to waste, just send it to the admissions office and see if they’ll take it as a bribe. I’ve never seen anyone who has ACTUALLY taken that many exams. MAYBE they’ve taken that many classes TOTAL in their high school career, but not that many exams. Your friends were clearly exaggerating.</p>
<p>Also, just taking an AP class doesn’t mean anything. You have to do well in them, as well as on the AP Exam. Besides, the top universities do holistic admission processes.</p>
<p>Honestly, if your school is quality you shouldn’t have taken 20 AP exams. Honors and even regular classes at good schools can be just as challenging. Your guidance counselor will attach a school profile so colleges are aware of how many AP opportunities were granted to you, and they only expect you to flourish in the school you’re in, not to somehow take classes outside of that.</p>