<p>I'm currently a sophomore at an American system international high school. My brother went to UNC but loves Duke and has been pushing me to go there, but I need some advice. </p>
<p>Most kids at my high school do the full IB diploma (3 high levels, 3 standard levels), plus SAT's and SAT 2's and that's it. No AP's. Our school sends at most 2 people to Ivies/Duke each year.</p>
<p>I've been doing well (GPA around 3.8), blue book SAT's around 2250 and I really want to make a push for a top school so I was thinking of taking an IB AP mix. </p>
<p>Honestly my counselors aren't very good, everyone says the IB diploma is amazing, but I'm 100% focused on the US, I'm not interested in an 'intellectually enriching' experience that comes from EE, CAS, TOK, and I thought an IB AP mix would show more rigor than just 6 IB exams. I was thinking the following combination:</p>
<p>IB HL English
IB HL Econ
IB HL History (our school does the Russia/China focus)
IB HL Spanish
IB SL Physics</p>
<p>AP Microecon
AP Macroecon (learn all the theory in IB HL Econ for both AP econ's)
AP Calculus (instead of an IB math)
AP Statistics (instead of an IB math)</p>
<p>There isn't significant different between full IB and what I want to do, but you never get credit for Methods anywhere so I thought I would drop that and take AP Calc and Stat instead, and I also don't have to do the useless EE, TOK. </p>
<p>Of course I plan on doing well in my classes, but I wanted to get some advice on the above combination vs. just plain IB diploma from an AdCom's perspective. I would really appreciate any advice from people who have gone through the process.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the IB diploma is VERY well respected by US Universities. I have lived in the US all my life and while the IB high schools are not in the majority, people understand that it is a rigorous program. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to hear what other people (adcoms especially) have to say about the perceived difference in the rigor of AP vs. IB.</p>
<p>Thanks for asking this question. I have a 2010 graduate who will finish with 9 AP credits, but the school system has been accredited for an IB program beginning this fall, so his younger brother will have to make this decision.</p>
<p>kobe, from what little I know and extrapolate, I would imagine that adcoms see IB as a curriculum-wide rigorous approach rather than simply a selection of challenging classes (AP). If they do think that way, (and I believe IB accreditation is controlled carefully, so they can trust the universal rigor of an IB diploma), then an IB diploma would actually be more worthwhile than a bunch of AP credits.</p>
<p>It’s just me thinking out loud at this point and I would love to hear more opinions on this. Anyone?..</p>
When I applied (which was a while ago), Duke was one of a number of schools who actually preferred IB to AP. I don’t know if that is still the case.</p>
<p>kobe, I agree with you that AP Calc is more useful than Methods. There are two possible solutions to this.
[ul][<em>]I took Methods I sophomore year and Methods II junior year, leaving room for AP Calc BC senior year. Is that route available to you?
[</em>]Does your school offer Math HL?[/ul]
That said, AP Calc is not essential unless you plan to go into engineering. Duke requires two math courses for graduation, in any case, and (depending on the Options) Methods usually covers the basics of AP Calc AB.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the way it works at my school is Methods I junior year, Methods II senior year.</p>
<p>We do have Math HL and I know in HL I you learn enough to take AP Calc, but I honestly don’t know if I can do HL math. I’m all for challenge and rigor, but I know people get slaughtered in that class…</p>
<p>If I did take full IB, I thought about taking AP macro and micro, but it looks like most schools give you the same credit for HL Econ and Ap mirco¯o so there’s no real point. </p>
<p>Therefore, if I do take full IB looks like the only AP I would take would be Physics mechanics…weak…</p>
<p>If your school provides the diploma, then I would take it, because it’s the most rigorous schedule you can take, unless you overload on 6 or 7 HLs only. Plus, one IB course takes 2 years to study and has more content involved.</p>
<p>Besides 150 hrs of CAS and the EE aren’t THAT hard to do. My Bio HL IA’s can exceed 4000 words without a problem. Also TOK is actually interesting. </p>
<p>However, you ARE right about HL Math. But the calc they learn in there isn’t as intense as AP Calc BC.</p>