Claire Young, a Boston U. sophomore, said her 29 credits from Advanced Placement exams placed her ahead of her peers.
“I took them in high school mainly to get credit,” Young said. “I’ll be graduating early. Some of them actually counted toward my major. They’re actually really useful.”
In a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research and Northwestern U., researchers found inner-city students who took part in college-preparatory programs were more likely to attend college in greater numbers, remain in college past their first year and secure employment.
The study, published in February, focused on the AP Incentive Program, a high school initiative that includes cash incentives for teachers and students with passing AP exam scores. The results reflected a general correlation between taking and excelling in AP classes and long-term success.
“Students [who take AP courses] are more likely to go to college and graduate,” said Devon Wible, executive director of academics at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.
AP courses offer a rigorous curriculum designed similarly to college courses, Wible said in a phone interview.
“It prepares students for the rigor that they will face in college,” she said. “[AP courses have] more reading, more writing and more inquisitive thinking, opposed to standard memorization.”
More than half of the students who enrolled at BU had with AP credits, BU spokesman Colin Riley said in a phone interview. On average, a prospective student applied with having taken one or two AP courses, but some students took many more.
Riley said admissions looks at an applicant in a holistic way, but the most important component is their academic transcript.
“What an academic transcript shows is that students challenged themselves with the most rigorous curriculum available to them in high school, meaning AP and honors courses, and [had] done well in them,” Riley said.
Admissions look to see what the students selected for classes in high school, Riley said.
“People who are high achieving, challenging themselves, . . . are going to take every opportunity gain more knowledge and succeed,” Riley said. “It’s not surprising to see high achieving students succeed and then go on to succeed in college and the business world.”
Wible said the APIP seemed like a good way to motivate student, but that the “best reward” is to gain knowledge from having taken the course.
BU freshman Ross Huston said he took the AP U.S. History and AP English classes, but did not take the exams.
“[The classes] would look good on a transcript, granted I received a good grade, so I chanced it,” Huston said. “I took neither of the tests because I didn’t want to spend money on only a possibility of credit.”
Anneliese Scheck, a sophomore at BU, said she took the AP Language and AP Literature exams, both of which she said she passed. However, Scheck’s school did not participate in the APIP.
“We didn’t get rewarded for taking the tests, but we got penalized if [we] were in an AP class and didn’t take the test,” she said. “I definitely feel like AP Literature class and preparing for AP Language helped strengthen my writing skills, so I was well-prepared for college.”