The purpose of this study was to investigate the low participation rate among high school students 18 years of age or older in Advanced Placement courses. The subjects in this study were 129 Advanced Placement Students and 129 non-Advanced Placement high school students 18 years of age or older in five high schools in two Louisiana parishes. Perceived beliefs about the Advanced Placement Program were compared between the two groups. An attitudinal survey using Likert-type scales was administered to the 258 students by the researcher. Six hypotheses were tested using independent variables of race/ethnicity, grade point averages, and group identification as major factors. Specific survey items were targeted for calculating the dependent variable means. The hypotheses were tested using a two-way ANOVA, independent t-tests, and Chi-square. The findings included that there was no significant difference in expectations to take high school level course work in college between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students. Next, the researcher found that there was no significant difference in information about Advanced Placement Programs offered by counselors between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students, which was inconsistent with some of the literature found in Chapter 2. In this particular study, the researcher discovered that counselors provided Advanced Placement Program information to both Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students. Since the researcher did not find a significant difference in the information provided by counselors between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students, a further question was added for investigation. The researcher investigated if there was a significant difference in whether the application process discouraged students from program participation between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students. The application process did not discourage Advanced Placement students, but it did discourage the non-Advanced Placement students. This was consistent with past research studies. Past research studies have supported the findings in this study that there was no significant difference in being first generation college students between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students. However, when the researcher investigated student grade point averages, there was a significant difference in grade point averages between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced high school students. Advanced Placement high schools students had higher grade point averages than non-Advanced Placement students. These findings were consistent. The final analysis conducted by the researcher found there was no significant difference in information about Advanced Placement Programs offered by teachers between Advanced Placement and non-Advanced Placement students across the four ethnic groups. These findings were not consistent with most of the literature reviewed in Chapter 2. The literature acknowledged that there are inequalities impacting minority students with reference to Advanced Placement Program information offered by teachers among the four ethnic groups. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]