Unless the shows the report to the student, no. But the student can always ask the question. And really, that’s a valid question to ask when doing course selection. As in “Will taking X vs Y have an effect on the course load rating?”
My kid was admitted to Stanford and did not take physics. She did bio, chem, AP Chem, AP bio, and organic chem. She is a history major. (She turned it down.)
@luckymama64, congrats to your daughter! May I ask where is she headed and what turned her off about Stanford, if any? Thanks!
Just my daughter’s experience, as she is a student with a humanities focus who graduated last month. She took the most rigorous coursewor available in high school, but had a difficult time deciding on her senior year schedule. She did not particularly care to take AP Calc or SP Physicss, as she has zero interest in pursuing science or math related fields in college. But she also felt pressure to do so, because she has always been an excellent student and that just seemed like what good students do.
Ultimately, she traded AP Physics for a dual enrollment class (environmental engineering) and too AP Stats rather than AP Calc. She also took a pottery class (which she loved and was so very different) and yoga. Was it a lighter courseload than she could have had? Yes. She also had a great year and learned a lot. She leaves for Harvard in five weeks (RD admission).
OP. Be careful to take the other folks experience with a grain of salt. Well meaning of course. But there are so many factors other than course rigor you ask about in your post.
What major and school, of course it matters.
MIT might care more than Berkeley. I don’t know.
And more importantly inposts are Some things you never know.
Are they an URM, Questbridge, legacy, published author, athlete -perhaps a1600 sat or 36 act with 4 uw.
If any of those are yes a bit less math and science might be perfectly fine.
Are they an incredible writer. Did their life circumstances make them particularly interesting. Were they president of the class, an Eagle Scout and founded a real not for profit making a difference.
Perhaps they are a well known YouTube sensation. Classical Music genius or fantastic artist.
Or their mom and dad are really really wealthy.
Or like a pro golfer I know who pulled out all the stops and connections they have for an elite admission for an average great student.
Are they faculty or employee related.
Is their grandfather a retired dean or uncle a bishop in the Catholic Church and the elite Catholic schools like Nd gtown Boston college are appealing to the student.
In all these cases they still must be qualified but there are 3 times the number of qualified
Students for each spot.
These spots above don’t go to undeserving students - but they get pulled from the pile. Big advantages and if you have a few less aps or sciences it might not make or break a decision in that case.
Will it apply to the high achieving star student versus all the others. I have no idea.
Do the best you can and let the chips fall where that may.
Your d sounds like a fabulous candidate. Good luck.
She got a prestigious full-ride merit scholarship to a LAC. She certainly wasn’t “turned off” to Stanford, just “free” was a big deal for us.
@privatebanker, thanks for your kind words. I’ve been reading cc for a couple of years now and know well that anecdotal evidence is no more reliable than chance me threads. What some believed helped get them into their dream school might not help the next person, and most likely played no critical role in either of the two cases. This being said, there are some general norms/rules, some spoken, some unspoken, that most here on cc believe to be true (I.e. the fact that foreign language is essentially required for elite admissions, but it doesn’t matter how many years of classes the student takes, I.e. 2, 3, or 4, as long as the student reaches the highest level of that FR available to him/her). I was just wondering if there is an unspoken rule about HYPS expecting at minimum 2 STEM AP’s from humanities major, and it appears from everyone‘s responses that there’s no such requirement. From what I gather, as long as humanities major challenges himself or herself in the chosen field of interest, 3 basic STEM classes and one STEM AP is enough of a threshold for the AO to consider the rest of the application.
I know there is no magic formula for getting into HYPS, and even if there was one, the sheer number of variables, most of them outside of student’s control, would make it impossible to produce a guaranteed outcome. I guess the only guarantee I would like to have is an assurance that as a parent I did everytihning I could to help my kid reach her goals - but of course there are no such assurances, either. Depending on the outcome, I will always wonder - if she’s rejected, I will wonder if I should have done more, hired a private counselor, etc; if she’s accepted, I’d wonder if she could have been happier at another school and my “assistance” was more like meddling. In the end, all I can do is gather as much info as reliable as possible and let her make as good of decisions signs as she can using that imperfect information 
No expectation for 2 AP science for a humanities major, at the school I know best, a most competitive. The problem, as you realize, is there is no predicting for what other kids’ full pictures will be. But more stem AP isn’t the soluton to that. The quotes in post 4 do suggest it’s important to include physics. You can see how her targets word it.
So for now, she’ll have the 3 lab sci. She will have AP BC. You’re saying either AP physics in 12th or AP bio or chem. That would give the 3, plus having the highest level in at least one. Don’t worry that, if not admitted, you’ll worrry what mistakes you made. Final decisions rest heavily on institutional needs, things beyond your control.
What you can do is scrutinize her whole picture, now and for a year from now. For her possible major (and humanities in general,) has she maxed her various opportunities, gotten experiences outside class/academic or some club? Eg, if there may be some side interest in poli sci, has she gotten involved with some local rep, the upcoming elections, community groups or local advocacy? For global or language study, what has she done? If you have a heritage community, is she involved in some way (sometimes, culturally is enough, other times, more purposeful.) The idea is to show both the hs activities and an awareness of opps beyond that, not just what the hs offers, the hs box.
I don’t feel like I have a fuller picture of her, but you can try to size her up based on more than stats, rigor, titles, awards, etc. “They will like her because…” That does take some attempt to understand what matters, beyond academics.