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Benefits of the AP Capstone Diploma Program

Learn how the AP Capstone Diploma™ program can help students, AP teachers, and school leaders.

Participating in the AP Capstone Diploma program offers many benefits.

Participating in AP Capstone Can Help Students: 

  • Stand out to colleges in the application process.
  • Strengthen academic writing, presentation, and argumentation skills.
  • Become self-confident, independent thinkers and problem solvers.
  • Build time management and project-planning skills through long-term work.
  • Earn recognition through the AP Capstone Diploma or AP Seminar and Research Certificate.
  • Earn college credit: Many colleges offer credit for qualifying scores.

Use the AP Course Audit Ledger to see high schools that offer AP Seminar and AP Research.

Offering the AP Capstone Program Helps Teachers: 

  • Teach a flexible student-centered curricula with room for creativity and student input.
  • Grow professionally through scoring, workshops, and collaboration with the Capstone teacher community.
  • Foster a classroom culture of intellectual curiosity and academic independence through performance-based assessment.
  • Strengthen instructional practices that transfer to other AP and non-AP courses. 

All AP Seminar and AP Research teachers must first complete a 4-day summer workshop prior to teaching the course. Learn more.

The AP Capstone Program Helps School and District Leaders:

  • Offer a widely recognized, distinctive diploma program that complements AP offerings.
  • Strengthen college-readiness outcomes across the school.
  • Promote cross-disciplinary learning and collaboration.
  • Support equitable access to advanced academic experiences.
  • Engage in flexible implementation models.
  • Learn about AP Capstone requirements and policies before offering the course. Read the policies.

Higher Education’s Support for AP Capstone: 

AP Capstone is a powerful indicator of college readiness on a student’s transcript and helps students stand out to colleges in the application process.

Research has found that students who take AP Capstone courses are more likely to persist in college and earn higher first-year college GPAs.