Number of AP's?

Jalmoreno
Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:41:27 +0000

I think the way MIT admissions works, and many other top schools too, is that they look beyond coursework and test scores and try to get a feel for the person based on fit and what makes them distinctive. Beyond a baseline minimum level of academic achievement, the focus is on the subjective parts of the app, particularly extra-curriculars and essays (and affirmative action).

So, here’s what I would say. If you can take 6 AP classes and do well in all of them, you should go for it. However, if you take 5 AP classes and use the extra time to do something special extra-curricular-wise that would otherwise not be feasible, this is the superior option. Also, colleges never chastise someone for not taking APs because the school did not offer them. The goal is to evaluate a student’s ability to pursue available opportunities, and sometimes they just aren’t available.

Personal anecdote: I took 5 APs by the end of junior year and am taking 6 now (this is feasible because 2 of them are semester only classes). However, in my school classes are ridic grade inflated (I think we have something like 12 seniors graduating w/ perfect 4.0s) and it is possible to stay successful in multiple APs and do extra-currics. At other schools, this just wouldn’t be possible, and that’s ok.

Oh, and about US Gov and Lit, I think it is important to be well-rounded and take some humanities. If you don’t feel up to either of these, I would suggest AP Econ, as econ is a math heavy social science, and/or AP Psych, a very easy test (probably class, depending on the school) that has bio components.