<p>My mom told me that if I take tons of AP tests, it will look like I'm doing that just for college apps and that it will actually hurt my chances. Now, that's really not why I'm doing it but I can't really make the colleges believe that. Is my mom right? I'm not doing APs for college apps, but on the other hand if it's going to HURT my chances then I will back off and forgo the extra AP tests.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will hurt your chances. Colleges expect applicants to take the toughest courseload possible and in many cases, it consists of many APs. If you genuinly want to take all the APs, then go ahead. I would just make sure that you don’t overload yourself and end up getting bad grades in those classes.</p>
<p>I disagree with your mom.</p>
<p>I’m going to take 3 AP’s this year. AP Bio, AP UShistory, AP Computer Science(I know I’ll ace this one though)…</p>
<p>CornellUG2014 - Do you think it will be hard? How much studying did you do?</p>
<p>*** CornellUG2014 is a Ebay scammer…???</p>
<p>To clarify, my mom was not talking about my AP courses, but rather the self-studies that I am planning to do.</p>
<p>^In that case, I would agree with your mom. I only plan on self-studying 4 AP exams next year (and none senior year), each with a specific purpose in mind:</p>
<p>AP Chinese (I want to show colleges that I’m not lying about being a “native speaker.” Plus, some summer programs that go to Taiwan/China require an AP/SAT II score (I know, it’s pretty dumb), so I’m going to take the exam. It’s an easy 5, anyway)</p>
<p>AP Music Theory (Doing well on the exam bolsters the whole “I’ve been involved in music my whole life; it’s a passion” theme I want in my app.)</p>
<p>AP Enviro (I might consider doing an “environmental science with a twist of politics”-esque minor in college)</p>
<p>AP Eng Lang (I don’t want to take the AP class at school (bad teacher) so I’m taking an Honors class online. Succeeding on the test will show that I’m still good at English. And I’m a pretty good writer, so it shouldn’t be too difficult)</p>
<p>So, self-studying for the sake of self-studying isn’t exactly the best idea.</p>
<p>Self studying for your own enrichment is fine. But you should also think of practicality.
I’ve decided to self study the ones that my colleges will offer credit for. I could self study AP Music Theory and get a 5 easily, but I decided not to because most colleges don’t even offer credits for this. Plus I’m not going to be a music major. This way it saves my time and money. So now I’m self studying Micro, Stats, and Calc BC.</p>
<p>It can never hurt your chances, she’s dead wrong about that.
Although, if you take enough classes that you don’t have time for any EC’s, THAT could hurt your chances</p>
<p>There’s a misconception that having more APs = look more impressive. This can go both ways, depending on how you decide to handle it.</p>
<p>If you CAN handle it by taking tons of APs, be my guest and do so. However, if you don’t get 4s or 5s, you’re just wasting a lot of time and your money.</p>
<p>Colleges look for quality, not quantity. It will be very obvious if they see that you take tons of APs, but don’t get respectable AP scores for all the exams you take. That alone can hurt you a bit in college admissions.</p>
<p>I had this mindset in mind too. But after I realized that handling 4 APs (junior year) at school was already bloody hell for me, I made sure that I would do well on all of the exams I would be taking for that year. 3 5’s, 2 4’s (1 AP sophomore, year, 4 APs junior year). No 3’s or below. That alone taught me that emphasizing on quality would also do me well.</p>
<p>No don’t worry about it, you’re fine.</p>
<p>That’s like saying there is no point taking the SAT twice, doing many extracurriculars well or taking leadership roles, because colleges will think “you’re doing it for the sake of admission.”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I am self studying for my own enrichment, not for college apps. I make sure it doesn’t cut into my time for school (obviously), extracurriculars, sleep, or my relaxation time. I don’t attempt the AP test if I am not absolutely sure I will get a 5.</p>
<p>@314159… the thing is, I’m passionate about lots of topics. For instance, I too will be doing AP music theory - and am passionate about music, having played the piano since I was 3 years old. Same with psychology- I love the subject, but would rather not take the class in school for various reasons. Same goes for Human Geography- current events interest me. Environmental science, I’m not too sure but I love science in general so I want to try this one out and see how much I like it. It involves elements from several fields of science which I especially love: geology, biology, physics, chemistry (at least that’s what I’ve heard) but isn’t too hard, and i am also concerned about the environment and want to learn more, so I’m doing this one. Biology for two reasons - I love science, I MAY pursue a genetics major, and also I’ve already had Honors biology and regret not taking the AP then…</p>
<p>I’ve decided not to self study european history, because those would probably just be self studies for the sake of self studying… i realized that it doesn’t interest me that much. I probably won’t do either of the government exams either, although may rethink the Comparative government one, because it involves Nigeria and China, two governments that do interest me a lot. In fact, I think US govt. + politics may go along well with AP US history (which I’m taking as a class) and compGov, so if I do decide to self study Comparative Government I’ll probably do US gov as well…
And lastly, I’ll probably do AP Studio Art since I’m a passionate photographer and I love editing photos too.</p>
<p>So I’ve already got AP Music theory, Psychology, Human Geography, Biology, and Environmental Science as the self studies I’m doing next year, along with probably Studio Art and possibly two more government exams. This is five to eight self studies (Although biology doesn’t count really since I’ve had honors but with AP-level material, and my music teacher has already taught me AP-level theory over several years so it doesn’t count either; Studio art is not a “study” exam per se, and I’ve been a dedicated photographer for a while now), but I’ve already self studied five (although two of those were not really even self studies, and all those were more subjects I was passionate about). It sounds like a huge amount of excuses, and I realize that it probably doesn’t seem like I really am passionate about so many topics, but I am. Many of you guys probably wouldn’t believe this, so how can I expect a college to believe it? I really am doing this for enrichment, not for the sake of APs, but colleges will probably not look at it like this. will it really hurt me in admissions if I keep strong grades and show dedication to my EC’s and community service?</p>