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It depends on what kind of college you apply to. There are 4300 4 year colleges in America and at 4000 of them, I don't think it matters much if you have taken AP courses or not. However if you plan on going to a Top college, the competition gets harder and harder as you move up the rankings.

The best indicator of whether they are meaningful in the context of where you live and go to HS is how many your school offers. So if you are in the middle of North Dakota and less than 50% of your schools goes to college and no APs are offered, then you know that you are attending a low ranking public school in America. It doesn't matter if you get all As at this school, you will have a difficult time getting into a top college unless you supplement your academic course rigor with learning outside of HS. This can be self studying APs, taking college courses, doing your own research,etc.

If you attend a well funded Public or Private schools in a good zip code and your school offers 20-25 APs, then you know that many students at your school take them. They wouldn't be on the curriculum menu if no one showed up to take them right? At these types of schools, if you choose NOT to take any APs, you will not graduate with a high rank and have a lower WGPA than your peer students. If 50 students apply to a top State or Private College in your state, then having no APs will make you look much less competitive than the those who have taken a good amount of them.

Many International Students from smaller countries do not have the curriculum as American HS students. Some South American and African nations only offer 10 years of compulsory education compared to our 12 years. So not only are APs or IBs or DE options lacking, they are missing 2 full years of high school. Therefore, the probabilities that Int'l students can compete with Americans applying to same colleges is difficult because they are often have gaps in their academic record, test scores, and course rigor.

So unfortunately, wealthy, entitled Int'l applicants are often favored because their parents can afford to send their kids to Private Schools and after school tutoring schools where they can access APs, IBs and other difficult curriculum.

Good Luck.