Posted by Samantha Lindsay | Oct 18, 2015 6:00:00 PM

COURSEWORK/GPA

At many high schools, AP courses are the toughest classes you can take. Extremely competitive colleges are looking for students who are willing to challenge themselves, so they’re more likely to admit students who have taken at least a few APs.

In this article, I’ll go over how many AP classes Ivy League schools expect you to take and how these expectations can change based on the conditions at your high school.

How Many AP Courses Do Ivy League Schools Expect Students to Take?

There’s no concrete answer to this question because it depends on how many APs your school offers and how many of them your classmates are taking. Ivy League schools want to admit the best students in the country while also maintaining diversity in their student bodies. They will only consider students who are performing at the top of their high school classes, but they also make an effort to admit applicants from a wide range of different environments and types of schools.

You might only take two AP classes your senior year because those are the only ones available to you. In this case, you will compare favorably to other students at your high school since you’re making the most of your opportunities (and no one else will be taking more APs than you). A student at another high school who elects to take three AP classes senior year might not look as good if other students at the same school are taking five.  

When admissions officers look at applicants from a certain secondary school, they may use the fact that one student took fewer AP classes than others in the group as an excuse to demote that student to the waitlist. This isn’t always the case, though. If you take three AP classes in core subject areas, and someone else takes five but two of them were irrelevant to that student’s interests, schools probably won’t make much of a distinction between you. Top colleges are looking for students who have taken advantage of their opportunities, which means taking the most difficult courses available that fit with their interests.

If you’re looking for a specific number of APs that you should take, it will depend on your school’s offerings, but a safe number for admission at Ivy League schools is usually between 7 and 12 AP classes throughout high school. It’s best to spread out these classes over four years with the majority of them clustered in your junior and senior years. Freshman year you might take one or two AP classes if they’re available. Sophomore year you can ramp it up to two or three. Junior year, if you’re hoping to attend an Ivy League school, you should consider taking three to five AP classes in core subject areas.

Avoid overloading yourself too much during your senior year because you’ll be applying to college. Still, many students who apply to Ivy League schools take five or six AP courses senior year. It’s up to you to decide how much you can handle without feeling overwhelmed or dropping the ball in any of your classes.