Ok, so I am going into 8th grade in August, which means preparation for high school. The school I am districted to only offers AP classes. They are also allowing us a choice to redistrict to another high school if we decide to take the IB classes. I have no idea which one to pick. Is one better than the other? The con about going to the school that offers IB is that I will probably have to leave most of the relationships I have made and kept in elementary and middle school. The pro about it is that my parents told me I will get my own car (when I’m 16) if I go to the IB school because they don’t have time to drive me that far. Do colleges recognize one more than another? What if I wanted to go out of the country for college, which would be better then?
In country and easier: AP
Out of country and way harder: IB
I know a few people that switch school just to get in our IB programs that are doing horribly because their middle school didn’t have a IB MYP program to ease them in. If your reasoning to take IB is because of a car, you are not mature enough for IB. You are only an 8th grader, new relationships can be made and you have a long way to go.
I took plenty of AP(Human,EuroHistory,Stats,Physics,Econ,USGov) classes while doing IB and I must say, AP is a lot simpler compare to IB. For IB you actually have to know a lot of stuff in order to be successful while in AP, you can focus on 1 or 2 areas of your liking and be done with it. The writing and community service portion of the IB program also very tedious. You have to do 150 hours of CS each year and they cannot be from the same thing. You have to write a internal assessment for all your IB classes and one external assessment for one of the topic that you interest in.
As far as I know, if you want to game the college credit system, you should just take AP. Most of top 50 colleges accept both 4 and 5(most not all), which is a pretty thing to do. On the other hand, IB is a new thing and so most colleges require HL courses and you have to get from 5-7(out of 7). HL courses are like twice as hard as AP so, go figures.
Personally I don’t see why you’d want to leave for IB except for the car.
More universities/colleges accept AP credits than they do IB.
You’d have to study equally hard for both APs and IBs.
You sound like you have nice solid relationships with those around you, all of whom you’ll have to leave behind.
I have a couple of friends who transferred for IB since my school only offers 2 APs (Math and French). One came back in the senior year and the other one stayed.
Both made new friends and did well.
The decision’s ultimately up to you but I don’t really see a reason why you’d want to go to IB.
Whichever you choose, best of wishes!
Thank you all replies and long2181998, haha sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound like it was just for the car, I was just trying to think of all the pros possible in addition to the education
Go the ap route
I would take AP classes at your districted school. The IB program is an extreme time commitment that doesn’t give a lot of reward other than the knowledge/skills gained in the classes. I think taking AP classes provides a better experience, and it is easier to get college credit.
AP all the way. Dual enrollments will save you SO MUCH in college. Plus, like in our district, 90% of the kids in IB don’t stick it out. The program looks good, but so do APs. Plus, APs aren’t much more difficult than IB courses. @long2181998 took many of the AP-lite exams (Human Geography, Stats, etc.), so that statement was a little biased. Those were some of the easier tests. I have the personal preference for AP classes.
AP difficulty does vary wildly from school to school, but generally, I don’t think IB is that much harder. Unless you wish to go to an ivy league, I would choose AP route.
Thank you everyone who answered
You’re welcome 