Yeah, that's what it was like in the US 10-15 years ago. AP courses were still pretty new/unique when I was in high school, but these days they're as common as clubs or intramural sports.

One thing I hate about bragging about that sort of thing is that it's (unfortunately) more of a reflection on the quality of the high school you attended than it is on your character. The best students at the worst high schools in the US don't have the same access to AP courses as the average student at the best high schools.

Actually, this is true. If I look just one district over, the math level stopped somewhere around Trig. I think. For my cousins who lived just a few hours away, again, the schools didn't offer much. I think that there is something to be said for taking advantage of the opportunities that are provided to you--but we should be aware of the impact of luck in determining what opportunities we are presented with....

With that having been said, what do suggest we can do to help out with districts with less resources? I've done a lot of outreach, but it often feels like a drop in the bucket....

I won't say it's common, but it isn't all that unusual in the US either, at least among my group of friends. I came in with only 20-something hours and was on the low end (really focued on my math, finished all the necessary credits for my Comp Sci. degree before leaving high school). A friend of mine, on the other hand, came in with just under 70 credits, but they were all the gen-ed with some upper level math thrown in. While that'd normally be a little over half a degree, she added a second major that balanced it out.

A number of my friends did this though, so I don't think it's quite as big of an accomplishment in the US than elsewhere. Though I'll be the first to admit that my group of friends tended to be the high achievers in high school/university.

-- A undergraduate in CS/Mathematics

I started with 48 credits and it does get the basic math and general ed requirements out of the way. That way, I could start graduate physics and math course by my 2nd year at the university....

But, we take students from some magnet schools here to intern and they're amazing (multivariate calc, AP physics, and a year of Java--before senior year. The student had worked on a team project and was commenting his code unprompted...). I invited a Canadian colleague to a group meeting where they presented what they were working on she was stunned...I think that in the US when students have opportunities, it's great--the difficulty is how to improve the average....