Is There a Maximum Number of AP Credits Accepted?

Answered

The simple correct answer is that each college has its own policy. There is no broad stroke rule of thumb. Your theory is correct however you will be hard-pressed to find a Top 50 college that would give you full value for taking 10 APs and getting all 5s on your exams. Usually, top colleges limit or disallow AP credits because they want you to take their own classes. Brown, Williams, Dartmouth give you ZERO. MIT only gives you AP credit for NON-STEM exams like Art or World History but ZERO for anything Math or Science. And since only 10-15% of AP Test takers, in general, get 5s, that's another way for colleges to keep the bar very high.

If you want MaX AP Credit value because you want to graduate early and do not care about the prestige or clout or networking value of your college's experience, then you should apply to a State College like UC Davis or Florida State. At these schools, the minimum score is a 3 in most AP subjects. So if you got even all 4s in 10 APs you can get 30 credits off your 120-128 graduation requirements and cut almost 1 full year off your coursework. If you attend summer school for 2 summers, you could cut that down to 2 1/2 years.

Most high achieving applicants care less about how many AP credits they are going to get college credit for than actually getting into their college of choice. Therefore, the majority of AP course takers and test-takers pursue them purely to cite evidence of course rigor and academic excellence versus trying to cash their chips once they are done gambling in the admissions casino. Most high achieving applicants are ecstatic to be given the opportunity to attend an Ivy, Elite, or Top Liberal Arts college. They are happy to attend 4 years there if they can.

There a 2 ways to figure out this.

1.) Use the Collegeboard search tool:

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies

2.) Google search on the college followed by "AP Credit", such as "Brown AP Credit"

I did some searches and am posting the search results here:

Brown University gives you ZERO AP Credit

https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/degree/policies/advanced-placement

Williams College give you ZERO AP Credit (only used for placement purposes)

https://registrar.williams.edu/course-registration/placement-information/ap-placement-guide/

Columbia University (Columbia College) gives you various credits depending on whether you get a 4 or 5 on your AP exam.

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies/college/3853

Columbia Fu School of Engineering caps out at 16 credits - you need a min. of 128 to graduate.

https://bulletin.engineering.columbia.edu/advanced-placement

Vassar gives you between 2 and 6 points out of the graduation requirement of 32 for AP credits.

https://offices.vassar.edu/registrar/academic-information/transfer-credits/

Good luck.