How Many AP Courses Do You Need to Take to Get Into an Ivy League School?

 How Many AP Courses Do the Elite Ivy Schools Require?

If you or your high school student is aiming for one of America's elite Ivy Colleges, you may be wondering how many Advanced Placement courses they should be taking.  The answer is as many as possible.  According to Parke Muth, a previous dean of admissions at University of Virginia and current college consultant, colleges rank students based on many factors with one of them being the number of AP courses the student has taken. 

Your high school and the colleges that you are applying to will effect how many AP Courses you will want to take to be accepted.  Colleges rank and compare all the students from the same high school during the admissions process.  Because of this, it is important to find out what the other students in your school are doing.  You will want to be taking as many or more AP classes than the competitors in your own school.

Many high schools and colleges have weighted GPAs, which mean if you are taking more challenging courses and have all A's, your GPA will be higher than another student with all A's that isn't taking challenging courses.  College admissions offices look at GPA rankings within your school, so you will want to take many AP courses to boost your GPA higher than the competing students from your school.  It's also very important to do very well in these courses through hard work and tutoring in order to have the top GPA in your school.

Getting into an Ivy League school is not an easy task, but if you challenge yourself to take a heavy AP load and work hard to get top grades, you will be well-rewarded. 

For more information, check out Parke Muth's blog and The College Solution.