<p>"Even if Hernandez's description of the specific numbers or the Academic Index at Dartmouth is outdated, the general point seems to make sense and probably still applies. Namely, if students A & B are identical except that A has a bunch of high scores on AP exams and B doesn't, that's going to make A more attractive."</p>
<p>Maybe. I suspect, however, that the standard is rapidly becoming that, for regular, unhooked admits, they must have some high AP scores. Let's face it, the majority of upper middle class suburban HS offer AP classes. Adcoms expect the kids to take them if offered. The schools that don't offer APs handicap their kids in so many other ways that their grads are seldom contenders anyway. That's why there's the criticism of elite colleges having so little economic diversity. This lack of diversity extends to the kind of schools attended by the matriculants. </p>
<p>"But what proportion of kids who take an AP course end up taking the exam? "</p>
<p>This will vary a lot geographically and from HS to HS. Some states pay for the AP exam. Some schools establish a clear expectation of taking the exam for anyone enrolled in an AP course. But, as I suggested above, this is an irrelevant issue. For most applicants, not having good AP scores will just eliminate them from the running, IMHO.</p>
<p>You can see why this is such a touchy issue for adcoms. They don't want to be perceived in any way to be discriminating against certain groups of applicants, so they go out of their way to obfuscate, deflect, avoid answering and dodging delicate questions. Their behaviiour (admissions results) tells the true story, though. Lower income nonminority applicants are at a disadvantage in the admissions process, recent research shows, in spite of adcoms' stated favorable treatment of such applicants.</p>