<p>Okay so I would really rather be able to have the freedom to choose my classes that AP offers me. However, I'm so worried that when the time comes, my guidance counselor won't say that I took the most challenging courses offered to me. I plan to load myself up with AP classes, but will that be enough for her to say that I took the most challenging courses that I was offered? Or would IB be considered the most challenging? I'm stressing about this and I have to have my schedule made by the end of this week, so I really need to decide soon. </p>
<p>In case you didn't already know, my school offers both IB and AP. It offers 25 AP classes, so if I choose the AP pathway, that would definitely suffice. </p>
<p>Additionally, I'm not worried about college preparedness. I just want to get into a top college / college of my choice. </p>
<p>Let me start by asking a question…if you do take the IB option will you be going for the actual IB diploma or just taking IB courses? Because those are two completely different things.
I just finished the IB program and earned my IB diploma as of last weekend. I currently have friends at our state flagship some went through IB with me and others just took AP classes. </p>
<p>Let me say that the IB students find the first semester to be a piece of cake while the AP students seem to be slightly struggling. My advice weigh your options carefully but I cannot recommend the IB program enough, not just to look good on your transcript but to prepare you for college in general.</p>
<p>If your primary concern is what your counselor would consider to be “most rigorous”, and all things being equal you would rather go the AP route, then have you tried getting in contact with / emailing your counselor in order to get the answer to this question? Ultimately, this is going to come down to your individual counselor’s policy. </p>
<p>All comments about workload that I have read indicate that IB has high workload compared to other high school courses, including AP courses.</p>
<p>This can help train students to handle higher workloads, which can result in college workloads being more easily managed by those who would have otherwise have weaker time and workload management skills. But the disadvantage is that the added workload does not appear to result in significantly more material learned, if one compares the subject credit and placement that colleges give for IB HL scores versus AP scores.</p>
<p>I disagree. I took both HL Biology and Chemistry and found that I covered much more material when compared to the AP curriculum. You also have to consider the lab experience that IB requires and papers for the other subjects. In comparison to AP the evaluation for credit is much more rigorous for IB classes. I will agree that the translation to college credit is equal which I have very strong opinions towards.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, you cover significantly more material in IB HL classes vs AP classes but receive the same amount of college credit. Combined with the fact that an HL class takes two years and you get no credit for SLs an IB student will usually get less credit than an AP student unless the college/university awards credit for completing the IB diploma (such as the UC system).
If you’re just looking for credit, AP ill serve you well. However if you’re looking for a program that’ll better teach you how to handle a college workload, IB is the way to go. </p>
<p>I think a typical IB diploma student is required to take 3 HL classes and 3 SL classes over two years. Only the HL classes are considered ‘rigorous’. In the same period an AP student can possibly take double the number of advanced level classes. Apart from potentially earning much more college credit, you can present to your counselor the case that your higher number of AP classes puts you at least in the same “rigor” of course schedule as an IB student. If not more. At our HS offering both programs, students could take a maximum of 4 HL classes. My S took 7 APs and 1 HL in those 2 years. Obviously his schedule was much more rigorous than a full IB student. And the counselor agreed. Plus he enjoyed the variety of courses. </p>