<p>My local high school offers both a full IB program with testing for the IB diploma and a wide variety of AP-designated classes, as well as abundant opportunities to take AP tests based on self-study. Some students prefer one program, and some prefer the other, and some of the students who take IB courses also take AP tests. I hear a lot of local reports about the program at the high school, which in recent years has about twenty-five AP national scholars (and a slightly larger number of IB diploma graduates) in each graduating class. </p>
<p>To the point of this thread, there is neither local evidence nor national evidence nor international evidence that any college or university in the United States systematically prefers an AP-based curriculum in high school over an IB-based curriculum. Nor is there any evidence that the preference is the other way around. Most colleges and universities have no particular preference one way or the other, and admit students from both kinds of high school programs and also students who had neither of those programs in high school.</p>
<p>IB is a type of college prep high school diploma that can be very challenging at times. Typically you take 3 HLs (Higher Level. You take these for two years and can get college credit for.) and 3 SLs (Standard Level. You take the these courses for one year.) You can also take 4 HLs and 2 SLs if you want and still get the diploma. Basically at the end of your senior year you take a test in each of your IB classes. Each test is out of seven. You can get three points for TOK (Theory of Knowledge - an IB class where you dissect ideas) CAS and the Extended Essay. (At my school we joke that CAS is 18 months community service because basically that’s what it is, they want you to volunteer and serve in your community. The Extended Essay is basically an essay that you do on the topic of your choice.) So with your 6 IB classes each out of 7 and your three points you can get a total of 45 points. You need to get 24 in order to receive the diploma. </p>
<p>IB can be hard at times. At my school it all is sort of like a pendulum, swinging back and forth from having a extreme amount of homework and tests to not having a lot but still a substantial amount compared to kids who aren’t in IB classes. To be honest I kind of like IB, I don’t like the massive work load but it can be fun complaining about it all and in subjects that you already like you really excel in. At my school they offer IB and AP but they only offer 2 AP courses and a lot of kids that I know actually take the AP courses as well. At my school if you take IB English HL you can also take the AP English exam. At my school because the IB program is relatively new IB kids can get a lot of perks, we get the best teachers and you become really close with the kids in your classes because you all have most of your classes together. Teachers think you are more responsible and if you take a class that’s not IB (for example for me I’m also taking Personal Finance) and you’ll think they are really really really easy. Basically just be prepared to work because you will have to work, even though in some classes you’ve never had to really try before you will have to try, but where it has it’s stress-filled-we’re-just-going-to-have-to-work-through-this-it-better-be-worth-it moments, it also has it’s super fun moments (For example my whole TOK class went a little crazy at 11-11-11 and at 11:11 we all ran through the halls screaming 11 over and over again…we got away with it too because we claimed it was a “philosophical experiment” and it wouldn’t have looked very good to the “great all-wonderful” IB program if they put half the kids in the IB program in detention). So I guess it’s worth it if you’re planning to go to college and check and see if your school allows you to take both the IB and AP exams. Best of Luck to you whatever you decide to do. ;)</p>
<p>IB courses we have at our school involves everyone working together. seldom is there a project done by the individual. Am I missing something?
Several Division I schools told us when we were visiting domestic US schools IB was actually the name of the company/curriculum not really constructed with any university other than UNESCO having anything to do with what was required. Colleges worked together to form AP.
IB was college prep and AP was college work. They did say, however, if you were going to attend a college in Europe IB was they way to go because of the way Europe operated as a society - not because it was more advanced than the US. No one from our three year old IB school has been accepted into any school different than our AP counter parts. In Fact three students from the traditional school were accepted into MIT over the same three years!?</p>
My TOK teacher in IB is in contact with several college admissions officers. They have told her that they make a separate pile of IB student when going through applications. Colleges know IB students will be able to handle the college workload and will be more likely to graduate. My teacher said that IB student are 30% more likely to graduate college than their peers. This makes a difference to the colleges who are hoping to increase their statistics pertaining to graduation as much as possible.
Also IB students find college to be much easier compared to their IB workload and compared to their peers–some call college a joke. IB prepares you for college much better than honors or AP classes can. The other college students are likely to worry about a 2,00 word paper, or find a 8 page essay daunting. However in IB you write several long papers, including the Extended Essay (EE) which is 4,000 words long (about 16 pages). IB teaches you how to manage your time, write well, perform college level research, and more.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1850291-does-ib-prepare-students-for-college-significantly-better-or-is-it-just-more-work-p1.html references a study on the IBO web site. It appears that IB students over a decade ago had slightly higher college GPAs and slightly higher graduation rates (not three times) compared to matched (by high school GPA, test scores, family income, and race/ethnicity) non-IB students at UCs. However, the matching apparently did not include (intended) major or specific course work (e.g. if the IB student took an HL course, did the matched non-IB student take an equivalently advanced AP or college course?).
Not sure if anyone’s going to reply, but I’m also stuck in choosing between AP and IB. I’m quite torn. At our school, doing AP gives for a more flexible schedule, however the teachers at our school that teach AP aren’t as good as the IB teachers. Also, many of my friends and the well respected people at my school are doing IB, not AP. With IB, I’m actually glad that they present the curriculum at our school in a great way, but I’m worried that IB will nab up an unhealthy amount of time, as I already know I will have to take classes over the summer in order to fit my schedule. As one who has struggled with stress and anxiety problems in the past, IB seems a bit too much. In terms of credit, IB students are allowed to take the AP exam to earn credit(my school district pays for AP and IB exams, so my family doesn’t have to spend any money.) AP and IB are also weighted the same at our school in terms of GPA and class rank. Another thing worth mentioning is that my school only lets us do a full IB diploma, which can’t just pick a mix of AP and IB. I consider myself to be a good all-around student that almost always has A’s, and am in the top 15 of my class.
I would go with IB. I extensively studied both, as I had to choose between two schools (public and magnet). I opted for the public school with the AP. Unless you complete the full IB diploma, there is no benefit. AP classes are not too difficult (with a few exceptions), and you say that you do not want to stress out, so I would go for them. If anything, AP will help your class rank if you take more than 6. IB courses last for 2 years, while AP last for 1. If you take more than 6 AP classes, you are at an advantage in terms of a GPA boost (assuming you get high grades). @justjannelle
I agree that IB is way harder. Every sane person who has been exposed to both APs and IB would state that the IB curriculum is dramatically harder than a collection of random AP exams. But by giving equivalent college credit to APs as they give to IB HLs and giving no weight to IB SLs - most US universities are already signaling that they severely under-appreciate the IB. My daughter is studying at an IB only school (her freshman year was at an AP only school so she can compare) and she is not happy that the fact that her workload is a multiple of a typical AP kid is not getting her additional college credit or weightage during the admissions process. Sure she will be better prepared for college but it wont help her get into college any more than if she took APs.
When I was visiting colleges, I always asked about how they viewed IB classes and what credit they gave for IB exams. The most common response I got was, “What’s IB?” But I ended up incredibly well prepared - college definitely felt easy compared to IB.
AP is often perceived as more challenging for STEM. Really, perception of superiority is often local (as noted above, some colleges are not even terribly familiar with IB). In our city, IB is essentially the gifted track in the public schools (although the STEM kids at those schools generally take the AP options instead). The two (nationally ranked) magnet schools and the independents who place kids in selective schools only offer AP. No one is pulling their kids out of the magnets (who have to conduct lotteries each year) or the independents in order to do the IB programs (perhaps more to the point, the faculty at the top-20 institution at which I work do not have their kids in the IB programs; our head of admissions sent his kids to an independent school although I know that he was zoned for one of the IB diploma high schools). Out of curiosity, I looked at our local NMSF list for fall 2015 and discovered that only 4 students from the four IB programs in our immediate area came from a school with an IB program (all from the one school in the expensive suburb that folks move to for the excellent public schools).
I wouldn’t think that any adcom looking at kids from our area would consider one “better” than the other; they would just ask if you took the greatest rigor available at your school. I agree that the IB writing requirements appear to be more demanding (my son’s independent school actually refuses to offer AP Eng. Lang. because it believes that its world/british/american literature elective requirements are more rigorous and require more writing; seniors can take AP Lit., but usually only do so to get out of freshman English), but I don’t think any adcoms favor one over the other in terms of rating rigor.
@justjannelle as a mom of IB senior who just went through application process I can offer this observation. Consider where you want to go to school. AP exams of 4or 5 will give you credit at most state schools. If you are looking to earn credits and pay less than lots of AP classes are the way to go. If you are aiming for Most Selective school, opt for the IB diploma. It will most likely be seen as most rigorous curriculum at your school. Highly selective schools will be looking for that.
I believe the IB degree program is what got my kid into two top schools.
You said yourself that it has better teachers. Show colleges you are in it for the learning.
@arensaini - It’s not all about perception, though - in a lot of cases, IB is more challenging and/or more work (and at the least involves a lot more writing). How it’s “seen” for college admissions is only part of the equation - it’s also a matter of how well it prepares you in reality. Thanks to IB, I was a much stronger writer than many of my classmates who hadn’t done it.
What gives more credit- AP tests or IB scores. That’s going to depend on the school, the score and the particular class.
What looks better for college admissions.
I can tell you that admission officers we have spoken to at elite LAC’s have a great deal of respect for the IB Diploma program and students who tackle the whole thing. Note- this is a very different thing than just taking a few IB classes and getting the scores. The EE, the CAS hours, TOK, the depth and breadth of the courses required, are all a package. The admissions director we spoke to at one particular, very highly ranked LAC, for example, when she introduced herself at the admissions session, she mentioned that she went to an IB high school. She considered it to be an important part of her own background. Later in the individual meeting we had with her, the IB program was a huge part of the discussion. She felt it ideally prepared students for the environment at this school.
This is an excellent example of one wild card that comes up during the college admissions process: an admission officer’s personal passions and prejudices. While certainly all admission folks respect IB, the IB student who applies to this particular LAC is probably going to have a small advantage due to the head honcho’s fond feelings toward the IB diploma.
Many moons ago, when I was writing Panicked Parents’ Guide to College Admissions, I tried to get some admission officers to own up to the personal preferences that they brought to work with them. Few would respond candidly, so I was especially grateful to Lee Coffin (then at Connecticut College now Vice Provost for Enrollment at Dartmouth). He conceded that he had a soft spot for cellists and environmentalists but found it tough to be enthused about equestrians. Perhaps his views have changed over the eons so I don’t encourage horseback riders to steer clear of the Big Green, but I know from my erstwhile application-reading experiences that–although admission officers do try to park their prejudices outside of the committee-room door–there will always be some that sneak in.
Thus, as often as I tend to generalize about what admission officials are seeking, I’m still well aware that the answer can vary not only from college to college but also from staff member to staff member within a college.
