<p>^If Student A has better objective grades than Student B, then number of APs obviously won’t matter. (And at some high schools, a 93 and a 100 are both counted as ‘A’ for GPA purposes.)</p>
<p>I agree that I am generalizing my own high school experience; so are you. Neither of us can claim to represent more than our personal anecdotal experiences.</p>
<p>FWIW, at my high school, there were 10-20 kids at the top of the class with 3.9-4.0 UW GPAs and excellent extracurriculars, with musical passion being a popular choice. All-State Orchestra and All-State Band both received regular representatives from my school, despite us not having a music department; but the orchestra kids went to district orchestra for 2 hours one night a week, while the band kids either 1) did marching band for 15-20 hours a week during season, or 2) took band as a regular-period course. Uniformly, the students who played strings or didn’t participate in music had taken more APs than the students who played woodwinds and committed to band. Considering the same division among those with excellent grades, those who took 4 more APs appear to have benefited in admissions against those who took 4 years of band.</p>
<p>This was the situation at MY high school: Student A with perfect grades, 10 APs, first-chair viola in All-State Orchestra. Student B with perfect grades, 6 APs, first-chair flute in All-State Orchestra. Same high school, so the “availability” of APs seems comparable. Although the GC rates both students as “most rigorous” courseload, when there are 5 Student As and 5 Student Bs, the college has to choose 2 people to admit by SOME measure.</p>