Taking AP courses in High School is not enough to stamp yourself as worthy of Top 40 institutions. Taking the most rigorous courses available at your High School is a baseline requirement with performance in those courses and so many other factors contributing to the final acceptance. However, you are correct that Advanced Placement does contribute heavily.
Ironically, Newsday published an article just today citing that New [lacrosse] State is currently ranked 7th in the nation on AP test scores.
New [lacrosse] placed seventh nationally in the percentage of public high school students succeeding on Advanced Placement exams in 2013, moving one step up compared with 2012, according to a College Board report released Tuesday.
Maryland was at the top, with 29.6 percent of students there who took the exams scoring a 3 or better, followed by Connecticut, Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida and California. The top score on the tests is 5.
New [lacrosse] came in at 25.4 percent, above the 23.5 percent of 2012, when the state ranked eighth nationwide, the Manhattan-based College Board said.
The article goes on to discuss that 44,909 students in New [lacrosse] State scored a 3 or better on at least one exam in comparison with 29,479 in 2003. Of course, the broader push for AP exams over the last decade is in part underpinning this data point. In fact, some districts are reporting an increase of nearly 100% in AP/IB course registrants over just the last five years.
