<p>I don't know about "most colleges" but the colleges we investigated for our Ss (one of which did not grant Advanced Standing and only allowed 2 APs to be used--to get out of intro level classes--anyway) were more likely not to grant credit for certain types of courses.
That does not mean that taking AP classes in such subjects would not be worthwhile intellectually or would fail to impress adcoms. But if receiving credit either to reduce time to degree or place into more advanced classes is important to the applicant, and the high school schedule only allows the applicant to take a limited number of APs, it might be wiser to stick to the core academic classes. </p>
<p>Here is a list of AP courses for which Harvard will NOT grant credit (note that Harvard is fairly generous in is AP policy, provided that the student receives a score of 5; other colleges seem to be more restrictive as to type of AP course, though they may be more generous about the score itself):</p>
<p>The following College Board Advanced Placement examinations may NOT be used for eligibility:</p>
<pre><code>Art (Studio and Portfolio)
Comparative Government and Politics
Computer Science A
Environmental Science
Human Geography
International English, and
United States Government and Politics.
</code></pre>
<p>One other reason to privilege core academic subjects is that both high schools and colleges demand/strongly suggest several years of study in those subjects. For example, 4 years of social studies can easily accommodate AP-USH and AP-World or European History. 4 years of ELA similarly can accommodate AP-English and AP-Language (they are paired with AP-USH and AP-Euro in our high school); AP-Calculus and AP-Physics are also often taken concurrently.</p>