At a School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting in November, Principal Jen Fong proposed setting a limit on Advanced Placement (AP) classes to address concerns about student mental health and course overload. Later, at a February SAC meeting, the issue was reopened, and Fong hoped to receive feedback, specifically from students, about her proposal. Despite the multiple discussions about AP limits, Fong said that parental backlash has stopped any policy from moving forward.

“I was trying to ask, should we discuss this in order to improve students’ mental health? And then it became something else. And then I said, let’s pull this back, because we don’t have any agreement,” Fong said.

Before Fong tabled the proposal, the topic had sparked debate among SAC members, who questioned whether the initiative was worth pursuing.

“We’ve returned often to this topic about creating an AP cap, and there are pros and cons to it,” senior SAC member Lucas Keeley said. “I would say there is a lot of resistance, especially amongst those who feel like the AP classes provide a unique opportunity to get certain content that wouldn’t otherwise be available.”

The desire to alleviate students’ stress is indisputable, but some members have articulated concerns that an AP limit would have the opposite effect. Parent and SAC member Cyndi Wright said that during the November meeting, parents said they value student well-being but remain unsure about the benefits of an AP limit. Wright said there isn’t enough evidence proving that an AP cap would reduce stress or improve a student’s chances of getting into college.

“We brought up a lot of potential stress that could be increased due to the limitations. For instance, students going and taking classes at [The College of San Mateo] to stand out, kids focusing on other extracurriculars to stand out, since they couldn’t with AP classes,” Wright said. “We just weren’t sure whether or not it would cause more stress or be a help. It wasn’t clear to us that it wouldn’t impact some students’ ability to apply for colleges.”

Inspired by her daughter’s positive experience attending a school that limits students to three AP classes per school year, Fong proposed the cap as a way to pique students’ genuine interest in a subject and allow them time to explore their passions.

“This is informed primarily from having raised my own children who have taken AP classes, and they’ve taken several that are very formulaic, and I’m pretty frustrated as a parent, seeing them memorize but not learn, and seeing them lose interest in the subject,” Fong said.

Fong is not the only educator who has noticed that too many AP courses can cause stress and hinder student performance. School counselor Christina Berube also said that AP classes create misconstrued pressures that lead students to take them.

“I think there’s a misconception with students and with parents and families that you have to take AP classes in order to get into college,” Berube said. “How about you take something you’re interested in, or that at least you’re good at, because you’re going to be miserable in the AP class that you don’t like. It’s that misconception that’s the key to getting into college when it’s not. It’s so much more than that.”

For Keeley, the issue comes down to freedom of choice. Since no one knows a student better than themselves, only they can decide whether they have the bandwidth to participate in AP classes.

“Personally, I’m an opponent of the AP course limit, not because I think that it’s [not] necessarily good or important to take an extraordinary number of AP classes, but I feel like creating a rule or barrier does not teach students to make healthy and appropriate choices for themselves, and I feel like we should create as much opportunity for choice as possible, and instead help people make their own informed decisions,” Keeley said.

Fong said the discussion has been postponed and will not be reintroduced at another SAC meeting this school year.

“We haven’t even gotten to the point of solutions. Because the question is, should we talk about this? Is this something that the community wants to discuss and make a change? And the answer is, it’s too fraught that we can’t have a discussion,” Fong said.

After junior Alex Rivas selected her class schedule for the next school year, she decided to drop one of her Advanced Placement (AP) classes. When she looked around at her friends and peers, though, she felt like she wasn’t doing enough. Despite taking three APs, Rivas still felt like her load was inadequate.

“I felt some stress after I had selected my schedule for the year, because I felt like I actually wasn’t doing enough… I felt regret for dropping my AP Language because compared to my peers, it wouldn’t be enough, because there’s people doing way more than three,” Rivas said.

AP classes are college-level courses designed to prepare students for a cumulative exam taken at the end of the year. Performing well on these exams can earn college credit, but according to junior Adrian Su, the motivation to take APs comes from a desire to prove academic dedication in an increasingly competitive college admissions environment.

“A lot of it is from college admissions and I do enjoy the classes, but a lot of the time, the reason why I take these classes is to boost up my resume,” Su said.

According to U.S. News & World Report, 63% of Burlingame High School students took at least one AP exam between 2020 and 2023 — a majority, but far from the overwhelming expectation that some students feel. In certain social circles, it can feel like the only way to succeed is to pile on as many APs as possible.

“A lot of people express that the only reason why they wanted to do the [APs] was because of the idea that you need to take a lot of AP classes to succeed,” Rivas said. “And I also think it has a toll on friendships because it makes everything so competitive.”

Despite the narrative that more APs equal better college eligibility, the data paints a more nuanced picture. Data compiled by Principal Jen Fong on Burlingame’s class of 2024 found that 52 of 69 students who took six or more AP exams were admitted to a Top 25 college. Yet, 18 students who took fewer than six, with two having taken none, were also admitted.

For history, government, and economics teacher Elizabeth Bellas, the high school experience should be more than just stacking APs and chasing prestige.

“High school is such a fun and special time. You’ll never be in high school again, and if you spend your whole time studying, that’s really sad,” Bellas said.

However, according to senior Annie Conway, a prominent culture of comparison still motivates students to take AP classes.

“There’s a lot of comparison between people — how many classes you’re taking, what type of classes,” Conway said. “I think that people are always worried about doing better than other people.”

The academic toll of this culture is also evident in students’ health and well-being, a pattern Bellas observed among her students.

“Students get a grade on something like an A minus instead of a 100% and then have a breakdown, because, again they’re on the edge of a breakdown from all the stress that they’re under,” Bellas said

Despite the competitive culture APs can create, Bellas acknowledges that these classes can offer a sense of control in an otherwise unpredictable college admissions process.

“I know it’s really hard to get into schools these days, and it feels like taking an AP class is a tangible thing that you can do to make sure you’re going to get into a school,” Bellas said.

For Su, APs also provide an opportunity to develop his work ethic and learn to work at a college level.

“I feel like the only way I can challenge myself through this school is taking AP classes,” Su said. “They’ve all brought their own challenges, but they’ve taught me a lot of things, like how to study.”

However, the idea that whether or not a student takes APs is a marker of their intelligence still lingers in the minds of students selecting their classes.

“The toxic culture is taking as many APs as possible. If you don’t take an AP, you’re stupid,” junior Sophia Yarmolinsky said.