<p>Many highly selective colleges place strict limits on how much college credit they’ll give you for APs. My daughter’s LAC, for example, awards 1 course credit for each AP score of 5 and 0.5 course credits for each AP score of 4, up to a maximum of 4 course credits, or the equivalent of one semester of college. But since they only offer full-year, full-time enrollment and graduate students only in the spring, those are pretty much just token credits–they don’t help anyone graduate faster, but I suppose they give you a bit of a cushion in the event you fail a college class or two. Basically, the college wants everyone to spend 4 years there taking a full load each semester—and that’s what their rules require. So even if they give you a few token credits for APs, it’s not going to matter much. </p>
<p>Where it might matter is in placing out of certain intro-level college courses, but that’s different from getting the college credit for those classes.</p>
<p>Personally, I think AP is a bit of a racket. Although they claim to give HS students college-level work, most HS AP classes are nowhere near as rigorous or as intellectually stimulating as what you’d get in a course on the same subject in a top college or university.</p>