<p>I was pondering on something recently. I planned to take several AP's senior year, most of them self study. Now, I remember that my Macro test junior year was in May and I got my results in July. Since most college applications are deadlined around early winter, and since most folks get their decisions before the Summer, I was wondering whether or not studying and taking AP tests senior year will be useful for college application. I mean, I won't be able to tell the colleges anything except that I'm taking AP classes or self-studying via midyear reports.</p>
<p>I think a student can report the AP classes he/she taking to colleges via midyear reports (for me, only one, AP calc), but what about self-studies (for me, four or five)? Can you put that in the "additional information" section?</p>
<p>And how important is the fact that you're taking AP classes senior year to admissions officers? They want to see AP test scores first, but all you can report in your midyear report is the grade in the class, and you can't get grades when you self study!</p>
<p>I'm in a dilemma! Should I study for and take about five AP tests if they won't mean anything for college admissions?</p>
<p>Taking AP classes in school senior year (if offered), is critical. They want to see you maintainging a rigorous course schedule. Self-studying them...not so much. Because, as you say, the only proof of self-study is the score, and you won't have that. Now, I would imagine that including it in the additional information, or counselor's rec, or something, would be possible...but I don't know how much they would care. I mean...what if you ended up not taking it? They'll have no way to know if you really will. And if you do, if you really learned it, or just took it without studying, to say you did. So basically: definitely keep the in-school ones. I don't really see the point of doing the self-study (unless you want credit, that would be one reason), but I don't have any experience with self-study, so perhaps someone with more personal experience can chime in.</p>
<p>You can mention that you are self-studying AP courses in additional information. Like what everyone pointed out, the colleges would have to take the information with a grain of salt. I still self-studied some AP courses during senior year because I thought I'll just give them a shot with it because it's not really taking a lot of my time and I can still get college credit for them (not to satisfy requirements, but at least as elective credits) later on.</p>
<p>I think if the self-study courses are taking too long/too time consuming, then just drop it. If they are nice addendums to your current AP classes and you might have use for the credits later on, then go for it. Definitely keep the school AP courses in any case - colleges ask for senior schedule on your application (sometimes you can fit self-study AP courses in there) and the mid-year report is crucial in proving that you are not being a slacker in your last year in high school.</p>