<p>Admission officers feel more comfortable with an AP/IB background - these are internationally accredited and acclaimed programs. In India, they will also find CBSE acceptable (ISC is marginally preferable due to its harder English course). State boards are, for the most part, a strict no-no. </p>
<p>Take CBSE or ISC, and give some AP exams (5 should be good) in the summer of your 12th. Be careful though, the syllabus is the same, but the questions are all application based and no amount of mugging can get you through them.</p>