<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school and am debating on going into the IB program at my school, or going the AP route. I have been debating for months and so far nothing anyone has said has made me lean one way or another. My dilemna is, everyone at my school, teachers included, have told me there is no point in taking IB unless you are going to study abroad. On the other hand, if IB is offered at a small portion of the schools in the US and world, then shouldn't I take the offer at hand? Then there's another rebuttle, I have had many students warn me of the sleepless nights filled with studying and the horror of their HL classes. I also play soccer year round and some have warned me that I better kiss soccer goodbye if I do IB. Has everyone I've talked to just been overdramatic or are they simply telling the truth?</p>
<p>So, here are my questions:</p>
<p>I have an understanding it is less likely to receive college credit with the IB program; is this fact or fiction?</p>
<p>To those who have graduated with an IB diploma; was all that work really worth it? Did the IB program really give you better preparation over AP for college?</p>
<p>PLEASE HELP! I NEED OPINIONS FROM EXPERIENCE, NOT FROM OTHER SOPHOMORES ACTING LIKE THEY KNOW EVERYTHING!</p>
<p>IB is well recognized in the US, so if you want to pursue an IB diploma, go ahead and do it. In our area, students who take IB classes often also take the AP exams that correspond to the work they have done. Remember, anyone who wants to shell out the money to take an AP exam can. Even your grandma if she feels like it! In contrast, only students who have taken IB classes can take the IB exams.</p>
<p>Students in my area who have completed a full IB diploma often enter college with a full year of credit. This means that they can finish in three years if they want to, or they can just skip a bunch of general courses and take more things that they are interested in.</p>
<p>If you take AP classes instead of IB, you can take the ones you feel like - maybe even just one or two. If you want to take a whole lot you can do that as well. This system seems to offer more flexibility.</p>
<p>As to whether an IB program is more time-consuming than a very AP-heavy program is going to depend on the individual student. I know students who barely slept their junior year in HS because they had AP classes that included lots of reading.</p>
<p>If you want to keep playing soccer, you will need to be good at managing your time no matter which program you decide to follow. I have a niece who was on her HS soccer team and swim team while pursuing an IB diploma. She was fine. Happykid had one giant time-sucking EC and only took 3 AP classes in HS. She’s fine. It really depends on what YOU want to do!</p>
<p>As a parent of a junior who is doing primarily IB classes but also has an AP class – he will not be getting the full IB diploma – I can offer a few thoughts. </p>
<p>Both programs are certainly rigorous. As we spend time looking at schools and admission criteria, rigor of the student’s curriculum is at the top of nearly every list. So both programs meets that goal. </p>
<p>Next, students from my son’s high school have not found it essential to actually graduate with the diploma. You don’t find out until after high school graduation whether you have done well enough on the exams to earn the dipoma – colleges are not considering it in admissions criteria. Most schools that we have looked at give distribution credit or placement out of entry-level courses for IB HL results above a certain score and do not give either distribution or placement credit for SL courses (1 year IB classes). </p>
<p>At least at my son’s school, the focus of IB seems to be more process, discussion and analysis. His AP class seems to be more of a march through required content in order to cover it all before the exam. As a parent watching the process, I would say they are similar amounts of work but my son enjoys the discussion-focus of his IB classes to the speed-delivery of the AP course. Alot will depend on the teachers as well and their approach to the material.</p>
<p>My son plays school soccer in the fall and club soccer in the spring and is active in academic ECs – and many IB and AP students are much busier with ECs than he is, so I don’t see either curriculum as an obstacle to maintaining your athletic commitments.<br>
Good luck as you sort out your decision.</p>
<p>My daughter was a full IB diploma graduate. Her school offered both AP and IB, she chose IB because she liked the overall approach to the curriculum. It was reading and writing intensive with examined topics in great depth. She particularly liked this school’s Theory of Knowledge course which was quite demanding as well as the Extended Essay requirement.
She is a year round athlete belonging to a club sport outside of school. I won’t lie, there were weeks that were brutal with the amount of homework and trying to fit in a two and a half hour practice each day. Some weeks she needed to skip some practices in order to stay on top of her homework. Yes, her sport did suffer but this is a decision she made when she signed up for IB.
She is now at one of the really good LACs where she is also an athlete. Looking back she was very happy she took the IB route. Between sports and IB she learned time management, the commitment to goals and how to handle the stress of balancing everything while maintaining her GPA.
She believes it helped her get into the college of her choice where the curriculum is difficult and she is assigned huge amounts of reading and writing each week. IB was a good platform for her to launch into college and handle the workload.</p>
<p>My brother did the full IB thing and I do AP. The main difference in terms of college is credit. Both are intensive programs, but AP is easier to handle. At our school IB students are required to take I think 3 HL classes. You only get college credit for HL. On the flip side, I have 5 AP classes this year, and I do less work than he did. I put in less work, and I get more credit out of it.
Is that good or bad? Your call.</p>
<p>As a current IBMYP (the precursor to the DP) student that is currently taking an AP course (and set to take several more), I can offer this:</p>
<p>The main difference between IB and AP is that IB is an entire curriculum, and AP courses are individual college-level classes. I’m at an IB school that also offers a good selection of regular, honors, and AP classes. In all honesty, the IB program feels like a school within a school. It’s structured and planned out, whereas in AP you have the flexibility to pick and choose which advanced classes you want to take. You don’t have to do Theory of Knowledge or the Extended Essay.</p>
<p>But that’s not to say there isn’t any flexibility in the IBDP. If you test SL in junior year, you’re done with that subject (this is typically your foreign language or science course - or elective). My school, I know, allows students to test SL for two classes in junior year, giving seniors an opportunity to have two free periods to do whatever they want. It may be different for you. My school recently made the decision to make ToK a two-year, rather than one-year course, so that’s another factor. </p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind is this: I know several students who take IB classes, but aren’t in the IB program itself. They won’t take the tests or get the diploma, but some of the courses double as AP and they take those exams. In fact, I’ll probably take mostly AP exams my junior year and then test mostly IB HL for my senior year.</p>
<p>But it really all depends on your school, really. Talk to the IB coordinator and your guidance counselor and figure out what combination of courseload, tests, credit, etc. you’re really after. In my honest opinion, the IBDP is great opportunity and - if you do well - a great demonstration of dedication, particularly if you manage to balance ECs along with it. </p>
<p>With the amount of time you have, I’m sure you’ll reach a good resolution. ^^ Best of luck!</p>
<p>I was faced with the same dilemma and I ended choosing AP. Personally, AP is easier to for me handle and I liked the variety of AP classes. Even though AP is rigorous, I feel like IB work harder and as a result, they most likely don’t have as much free time as AP students do. I would recommend AP because it has worked out great for me so far and I have no regrets about my decision but they’re both excellent programs so you can’t go wrong either way. Good Luck!</p>