Abstract
This article examines how access to advanced placement (AP) courses impacts college attendance plans of high school seniors. When the majority of previous research has focused on linking AP courses to university success metrics such as graduation and retention rates, the query here is on whether taking relatively more and varied AP courses inspires students to aim for more prestigious universities. The policy implications impact prioritization of AP course access. The current debate is whether to offer AP core curricula classes only at the junior and senior level or whether to make AP course options available in variety of subjects as early as Grade 9. Needless to stay, the second policy option is much more expensive and also harder for many schools to achieve due to a national shortage of teachers capable of teaching varied AP courses. The results of this article suggest that this option is worth the investment. Analyzing student record level data for 7 high schools from 2011 to 2017, we estimate that each AP course taken increased the probability that a student would aim for admission into a prestigious 4-year university by an average of 50%. We also find evidence that this dynamic was particularly true for economically disadvantaged students, offering a hopeful tone for future education equity research.