I didn't find anyone who has tried to test 16GB on this Macbook Pro model. It's sad when most people say "do not even try, you should get a new Mac". Come on, that Mac gets a Geekbench score (MC) around 60% better than my Mac Mini 2010. Taking into account that my Mini is a usable machine, even better will be a laptop 60% faster.
My Mac Mini has 16GB and, although it can't handle a lot of apps in active state without lagging, it can benefit from a lot of RAM, e.g., when you open a 10GB text file in a text editor or other specialized applications which don't require extreme processing power but need all data loaded in RAM. Java apps love RAM and some of the most popular ones, like Netbeans and SQLDeveloper require a couple of gigs each on some scenarios.