<p>^And in the scenario I was describing, Keilexandra, the 9-10 AP student is the valedictorian, with the most AP courses he could possibly take, because of the way the orchestra program and class schedules are structured. Impossible to fit in another AP, unless he gave up orchestra for a semester (for 1 more AP) or more semesters (for more APs). </p>
<p>Why wouldn’t a school take the 13-14 AP student with great musical talent vs. a 9-10 AP student with great musical talent? Good question … They probably wouldn’t. But you’re assuming that all other things are equal. Which is kind of silly. Rarely do two students of that caliber present themselves as entirely equal except for one, single factor – the number of APs.</p>
<p>And so, that’s my point … When you’re dealing with kids of that caliber, simply counting APs is stupid. It’s just artificially weighting something that, imo, doesn’t deserve that much weight. If you can excel in 10 APs, become the valedictorian, and have excellent musical achievement, and complete the most rigorous academic course load available (considering that you took 4 years of music and really excelled in that arena), and have perfect SATs, and other achievements that are very commendable, then WHY would it be beneficial for the colleges to weight the kid who took 13-14 over the kid who took 9-10?? That 13-14 kid could obviously fit 13-14 in his/her schedule, for whatever reason, and the other kid couldn’t. Colleges say they look at each student individually and holistically, with regard to what is available to each student at their individual schools. And I’m saying … if they’re counting APs, EVER, at that level, to weight a scale for merit scholarships (or admissions), then they’re losing sight of the big picture and focusing in on a very narrow facet of a much larger picture. And not serving themselves well either, necessarily. There’s a lot more to future leaders and difference-makers than the number of APs they can complete in four years.</p>