Will the admission officers look at the AP scores I reported, or will they only look at the AP classes on my transcript?
Classes > self study every time. Will they notice your scores? yes. Will they be impressed? not enough to self study extra APs. Do it b/c you want the credits to reduce your requirements for college (but be sure to check the credit rules at the schools you are interested- lots of them have limits on how many AP credits you can apply). Do it b/c you want to avoid the dreaded 101 class (but be sure to check the exemption rules at the schools you are interested in, both in general and in your major- lots of them have restrictions on what can be exempted). Do it b/c you are applying to universities outside the US and you need the scores (but be sure to check what the expectations are- in the UK, for example, the classes need to be related to the subject you are applying to study).
Don’t do it just to be the person applying with the most APs.
They will see your self reported scores, but don’t expect that to have the same level of impact as actually taking the classes for admissions purposes.
You asked the wrong question. The right question is: “Will admission officers care about self-studied AP’s?” And the answer is, in general, “no.”
They are interested in seeing what you took as classes and how you performed in them. If you have extra time outside of school and ECs to self study to potentially gain some college credit, then fine. But there are no brownie points to be had from admissions, particularly if the HS offers a rigorous curriculum.
Taking core AP courses, not the Geography or psychology, but the English, Calculus, Bio, Physics, Chem because you go to a high school that does not offer them will give you some kudos for going above and beyond to take challenging courses. It would make impact if you can send in the AP test scores on them and they are 4s and 5s. It tells selective college AOs that you not only are academically hungry enough to take this initiative but that you are also right up there in the academic playing field with those at schools that offer these courses.
But if your school offers these courses, you should have taken them there. The school profile generally lists the AP courses offered and what the students there tend to take and also what they get on the exams
It still depends on what classes these are, and your school context, before it shows any special initiative. Lots of kids, eg, self study AP psych, thinking it makes them seem so curious. It really has next to no impact.
Taking one of the cores cptofthehouse mentions, maybe. Some hs simply don’t offer AP level but have designed their curriculums to be, nonetheless, rather rigorous. In that case, self studying some core just because it has the designation of AP is unneeded.
You have a chance to list all courses on the Common App. That and the transcript are how they know what you took.
They’ll see it if you sent the scores to the school through the CB reporting process, or self-reported it on you application.
But as noted above, they don’t carry much weight.