Although 11 APs sounds like a lot, it depends on number of factors being:
-How many APs does your HS offer?
-How many APs do high achieving students at your school take on average (because they are your competition)?
-How well you are prepared to take on more challenging coursework and get good grades and test scores?
Your AP course load should be dictated by the answers to these questions:
-If your school over 20+ APs , then taking 1/2 of them is not too much. If your school only offers 6, then take 6.
-If the best students at your school typically take 10-12, then you are in the right zone. Adjust accordingly.
-If you are a straight A student, then you should be able to handle the extra homework, longer papers and labs and prepping for the AP tests. Use 10th grade to determined if you can get As and top AP test scores.
Stanford, like Harvard uses an scorecard system which ranks applicants 1 through 5 scale across 1. Academics, 2. ECs, and 3. Intellectual Vitality, 4. Recommendations, 5. Essays/Interview. Hardly anyone gets a 1 so lets say just 1% of applicants. Most successful admits score between 2 and 3 on these areas and usually have final composite scores of 2+, 2, 2-. If you are an outstanding recruited athlete you might slip in with a 3+.
To score a 2 in academics, Stanford will expect you to do the following:
-Have a high Unweighted GPA between 3.90-4.00
-Preferably submit either an SAT or ACT score, in the 99th percentile range so a 1500+, 34+
-Have taken the most challenging courses offered at your HS. So this has to do with whether you took advantage of honors and APs at your HS.
-Show evidence of intellectual vitality which is add'l studies outside of HS in either topics not offered including your own research, internships, and taking college coursework
I think it's too early to know how many APs you can handle because you haven't taken any yet. So take the 2 you signed up for next year and see if you can get As in them and score 4s and 5s on the AP exam. Again, this should inform you on how many you should take Junior year.
One important thing you and anyone else reading this who is interested in Stanford should know is that Stanford re-calcs your HS GPA. They throw out the 9th grade marks, and create a Stanford GPA using 10th and 11th grade marks. What this means is there more weight on your academic success during 10th and 11th grades. Knowing this, I would NOT worry so much about 12th grade APs especially since they will not get AP test scores until you graduate from HS since they are given in the middle of May, and Stanford's Admission team focus is on 10th/11th grade performance.
Therefore depending on your ability, I would recommend doing the following.
-Take 2 APs 10th grade
-Take 1 online college level course during summer after 10th grade at a T50 college or online MOOC like Outlier.org in something that resembles a core AP course, like Psychology or Stats. As a 9th grader, you will be too young to work or get an internship.
-Take 5 to 6 APs during Junior year IF you can handle it. And if not take at least 3 or 4.
-The Summer after Jr. year, take 2 hard STEM classes over the summer like Calculus, Physics or Chemistry. Or get an STEM internship.
Why? This way, you will have between 9-11 college level courses completed before you apply to Stanford with grades and test scores. This will make your academic narrative look more competitive than loading up with 5 AP during senior year as you indicated in your Posted Question.
If you can show Stanford you already met and exceeded the academic threshold when you apply SCREA or RD, without them having to rely on waiting for your mid-year report, you will be a stronger applicant than your peers.
Good luck and I hope this was useful to you. If you find you are not capable of getting As and 4s/5s on the AP exams, work with your counselor and make adjustments so that you can still present the best version of yourself when you apply to college.
