<p>I am really contemplating leaving the IB Program at my school and switching to AP. I'm becoming a junior next year, and I don't see the point in staying in the IB Program.</p>
<p>1.) Biology lab reports take 2 hours, and we do like 20 at our school. I have to document my hours.
2.) IB syllabi are smaller, yet more strict than AP syllabi.
3.) A lot of work for internal assessments.
4.) Not a lot of room for creativity in English, books are prescribed.
5.) Time-consuming work.
6.) CAS hours cannot be religiously affiliated, and I do a lot of community service at my church in this area.
7.) At our school, there is less work to do for AP than IB classes.
8.) Everything IB has, AP has more. I learn more in AP classes.</p>
<p>Basically, there is more regulation in the IB Program. More work, less material.</p>
<p>lol there is nothing great... i switched out of my ib program to take a full ap courseload because it is much much better... the ib program at my school (top 20 school in country...) only offered sl math, sl physics, NO electives besides artsy ones, and required a lot of art crap. i found 6 aps in my chosen subjects to be much better</p>
<p>We were told by a JHU admissions officer in a private conversation after an information session that if a high school has both AP and IB, they consider the IB program to be the "most rigorous" curriculum at that high school. At our high school, which offeres both AP and IB, counselors may check "most rigorous" only for IB courses.</p>
<p>I was just at a JHU information session on the JHU campus, and an experienced college counselor who attended the same session with me told me in a private conversation after the session that what JHU says publicly (which, in that case, was to take as many AP courses as possible) seems to ignore the issue of balance in a student's life. I think the take of Ben Jones at MIT, </p>
<p>which he first composed as a reply in a CC thread, is a more sensible way to look at this issue. I wonder how many of the students with the utmost preparation end up enrolling at JHU anyway.</p>
<p>Homeschoolers can't take IB exams at all (because IB is a strictly school-based program), so there will always be some smart learners who make the brand name choice of taking AP exams without taking IB exams.</p>
<p>Hi guys i know this question was probably asked alot but which is better IB or AP. And which program do colleges prefer. And lastly which colleges prefer IB over AP and vice versa.</p>
<p>Thanks your posts are greatly appriciated! :)</p>
<p>I know I'm just a highschool student, but I've asked the same question at several college fair type things. Every rep I've talked to has said that there's no preference nationally, but you have to weigh it against what your school offers. If you only have AP's, then there's no option. For students who attend schools offering both, I was told to consider which would challenge you the most but still perform well in. Hope I could help!</p>
<p>It forces you to become a better overall student than AP.</p>
<p>While you can choose which AP classes to take, you are forced in IB to go thru the whole program.</p>
<p>With AP you could if you wanted to avoid all the AP english courses if you were weak in that or all the scence courses if that was your weakness.</p>
<p>My D/S was strong in the sciences going into HS but weak in their writing skills. D/S hated reading & hated writing.
IB forced them to become a very good writer as IB pushes a lot of reading & writing. </p>
<p>So in my opinion you will be a well rounded student graduating with an IB diploma.</p>
<p>I agree with what most IB-ers have already said here. Th courses offered at IB is not necessarily harder, but the amount of work you have to put in for a full IB diploma defiantly is time consuming and extremely stressful at times. </p>
<p>Also, IB forces all students to take a subject in each subject Area, whereas AP would not. So for someone who may be really talented in Humanities would be forced to take Sciences. Math and Science geniuses would also be forced to take art/music/theater. These restrictions usually pull a students total IB grades down. </p>
<p>IB defiantly helps with Universities. It teaches you to mange your time ... or rather to finish as much as you can between 12 and 5 am in the morning. It also teaches you to self study, because most of the time, teachers will give out assignments and never check them. So it's your responsibility to do the assignments and ask teachers. </p>
<p>Also, with a 4000 word EE, 15 impromptu English analysis, IAs, constant essays, 150 hours of community service, TOK etc etc. It is quite overbearing. However, the content in the courses are not any harder.</p>
<p>The fact is that if you get your IB diploma you are automatically granted sophomore standing at most State schools with the 30 credit hours you receive.</p>
<p>You CANNOT say the same for AP.</p>
<p>At 3 credit hours per AP class you would have needed to have PASSED 10 AP classes.
That is hard to do, especially for schools that have limited AP classes.</p>
<p>As we all know all these schools have their eye out towards the USNEWS rankings. They will more than likely do whatever helps these rankings.</p>
<p>The graduation rate for each school is a component of this ranking.</p>
<p>Sooooo, as an admin officer who would you take?
Someone who walks in as a sophomore and is almost a sure thing to graduate in 4 years.
Or someone with some AP classes who will more than likely take longer than 4 years to graduate.</p>
<p>My money is on the IB'er with a diploma who can get them the points!</p>
<p>My son would already have sophomore standing at our state flagship university for the AP tests he took as a high school freshman (ninth grader). So I can say something BETTER for AP, because IB tests are hardly ever available for ninth graders.</p>
<p>What I like about the IB program is precisely that it is a complete package, an attempt to specify a well rounded secondary education up to international (but really mostly European) standards. What I like about the AP program is FLEXIBILITY, as it allows anyone to come into the testing room, homeschoolers, self-studiers, and high school students who have taken an AP course and those who have not. (The IB program is classroom-based and wholly unavailable to homeschoolers or self-studiers.) The earlier start that AP often allows is helpful to advanced learners in certain subjects, especially math and physical science. The number of students who take AP calculus tests "early" </p>
<p>is far greater than the number of students who take comparably difficult IB math tests at any age. </p>
<p>So, yes, both programs have their strengths, and as a believer in pluralism I'm glad both programs are around, but colleges can't systematically favor one program over another because colleges desire strong students from whatever program they can find them in. </p>
<p>To answer the informational question, my son took five AP tests as a ninth grader, three based pretty closely on classes he was taking at the time and two others more tangentially related to his school courses.</p>