how impressive is taking 12 AP classes throughout high school? Is that average for most top colleges?
Probably average for Ivy League and other top 10-15 colleges, slightly above average for top 25 schools like USC.
“Nearly half of admitted freshmen enrolled in eight or more AP courses in high school”
https://pressroom.usc.edu/usc-releases-admission-statistics-for-fall-2014/
It really depends on the school. At my kids high school the top kids took 8 to 10 APs total. But if your high school is AP arms race land, more may be necessary to be in the running.
It is a function of how many are offered in your HS. The important thing is that you have taken enough for your guidance counselor to check off that you have taken the most rigorous schedule available at your HS.
Impressive to whom?
I don’t think colleges (especially the top ones) care very much about AP classes, beyond the point that they show that you took a challenging curriculum. As with anything else, there is a point of diminishing returns, and 12 most likely past that point. Just loading up on every available AP class isn’t a magic formula to stand out from the crowd.
Which APs matter more than how many. Physics, Calc BC, Art History, and Spanish Literature are more impressive than Psychology and Environmental Science.
Impressive compared to?
Depends on your school. If you took 12 out of 12, then yes it would be. However, if you had the option to take more, and most other top students in your school did, then it becomes unimpressive.
I echo others in saying that further information is needed about the AP courses your school offers, how many the top 10% tend to take, your grades in those classes, and your AP scores in said classes. Those 4 factors determine how impressive it is, rather than viewing it in a vacuum.
People rarely take more than 6 or 7 at the school from which my kids graduated. Each year, a handful of kids get into the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc.
I’ve heard that colleges don’t weigh APs as heavily as other factors such as GPA and SAT/ACT test scores. However, taking 12 APs is impressive and certainly will look good in the eyes of the admissions officers. Nevertheless, do not rely solely on AP tests; there are other aspects of your application that will be considered alongside your AP tests and scores, some of which are weighted heavier in the process.
Read “How To Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport. Maxing out AP classes is not a guarantee of admissions success, nor the best path for a variety of reasons.
@intparent my school only offers honors classes because you have to test to get in is that good?
My kids went to a HS where there was no testing to get into honors classes & only a few AP classes for seniors only. My D2 got in everyplace she applied, including UChicago EA, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd,& Carleton. Just go read the book.
It will just show how rigorous your schedule was. It will not add anything else to your application. My kid is graduating with 15 APs this year. National AP scholar award was the only nice thing to add to her application.
Lots of the top private schools in our area are phasing out, or have phased out AP classes. They don’t want to teach to the test and they say their classes are every bit as rigorous as the AP courses. Student SAT II scores seem to support this. College admissions officers at top Unis know the schools and apparently agree since they admit students from these schools every year. Students are generally wealthy enough that the savings from a few AP credits doesn’t mean much to the parents which is the other justification for APs. D’s school is IB - no AP classes at all. She did fine with admissions to some of the most selective schools in the country. Kids at my S’s school with 4.0s, top test scores, and 12+ APs still didn’t get into their top choices.
National AP scholar or having 12 APs isn’t impressive to top colleges (I assume that’s what you’re talking about - Top 25 universities/LACs) - having 4-8 is fine as long as they’re well chosen. Adcoms don’t like the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to AP’s, or as Stanford puts it “it isn’t a game of who has the most AP’s, wins”.
Note that IB, AICE, DE, AP are all considered equally competitive.
What matters is intellectual curiosity, being competitive while being able to have noncompetitive fun, etc.
However, even when there is no intent to graduate early (or need for a buffer of credits to avoid graduating late), AP credit can still be useful for advanced placement (the original concept of such) so that an advanced student can take more advanced courses and electives rather than repeating frosh-level material that s/he already knows.
Of course, IB HL scores are also intended to be used to allow colleges to allow students to have advanced placement, just like AP scores.
It is all about your ability and the availability. If you are overwhelmed with AP and suffer in GPA (e.g. <3.7 in uwGPA), it may actually hurt your chance. Most high school students cannot even take 10 AP courses as they are either not available or schedule not allowed. So having the opportunity to take 12 AP would indicate your resources of your school and less about the quality of the student.
No, when it comes to top schools, 12 is quite normal. I wouldn’t consider anything below 16 AP classes to be anything but the norm.
Taking 12 AP classes is not necessarily impressive, especially if you go to a school with a large number of AP classes. In fact, if you’re applying to a top 20 school, and your school offers lots of APs, you’d probably be expected to take close to 12 AP classes to be considered taking “the most rigorous” classes possible.
Getting As in all 12 AP classes is more impressive, but still expected if you want to be competitive for a top 20 school.