<p>Historically, the University of Florida admits a far greater percentage of IB students than others from my school. It is not uncommon for them to automatically gain sophomore standing and even get paid to attend the school.</p>
<p>What xNYer says is true. Despite being an IB student, I will have taken 11 AP exams by graduation, in addition to 6 IB exams.</p>
<p>it's definitely IB, nation-wide</p>
<p>^ Evidence for the above statement?</p>
<p>See, the thing with an IB Diploma Programme is that you have to take AP and above level instruction in things which you may or may not be good at. Not the best in English? Too bad. (in my school, you're required to take HL for both english and history) Suck at science? take one anyways. While the challenge of taking rigourous course loads in subjects you aren't best at can be rewarding both personally and in terms of looking like a good student, it can definitely take a toll on your GPA. </p>
<p>Also, most schools don't offer IB. So don't think you're less competitive because you haven't taken any IBs.</p>
<p>also, schools with IB Programmes have to offer courses and exams in a whole lot of different subjects, so what sometimes happens is they take whoever is teaching the honours course, whether they are qualified or not, ship them off to a seminar, and declare them ready to teach IB. Sucks if you're one of that teacher's poor students.</p>
<p>My school offers both IB and AP classes. If IB is offered at my school, and I take AP classes, will colleges look down on me? I want to take Student Government all four years, but if I do IB I can not take it my Junior year, which is why I am planning on taking AP classes.</p>
<p>Will taking AP courses along with Student Government/Council look the same as IB (by which I mean will it be looked at equally, same rigor and inclusion of leadership/service) for colleges?</p>
<p>do IB.
even if you dont get a whole year of credits, so what? you will be well prepared for college. Not saying that AP kids wont be prepared, but IB kids will think college is a piece of cake. wouldnt you rather struggle more through high school than college?
also, YOU WILL HAVE A LIFE IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO IB!!
i play soccer, play bball and run track. im out partying with my friends on the weekends. i have an average 4.3 GPA.
my sister is a junior and also in IB. she plays soccer in the fall as well as kick for the football team. in the spring, she is on a travel soccer team as well as high school track. she has an average 4.2 GPA. we are both in many clubs in our school. And i dont stray up alll hours of the night! i go to bed around 1030 everynight.
SO YOU WILL HAVE A LIFE! its all about how you organize your time.
kids not in IB will try to bring it down just because they arent in it and dont want to think they are "less smart" . AP is a good program too but IB does prepare you better.</p>
<p>so DO IB IF ITS AVAILABLE.
if not, deff go for AP. unless you want to struggle through college</p>
<p>my grandfather used to teach in a top private high school in FL for 50 years and he said colleges prefer AP to IB</p>
<p>What about dual enrollment? Does an entire associates degree mean more than a handful of AP and/or IB credits?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Probably not. It would be much better to take courses a la carte in a way that prepares you for a highly selective college.</p>
<p>Pruneface: The operative word is “grandfather”. AP has been around much longer in the US than IB. Things have changed, greatly.</p>
<p>I’ll raise another point:</p>
<p>An IB student in the US is far more likely to get into Oxford or the like in Great Britain because the IB curricula is highly preferred to the AP curricula. </p>
<p>Additionally, look at schools like Wittenberg that offer half tuition to full tuition scholarships to IB diploma candidates. One can argue that AP is preferred, but in practice the reverse is true.</p>
<p>IB forces a Creativity, Action, and Service component to every student’s education and in addition requires diploma candidates to write an extended essay of 4000 words to be eligible for the diploma. AP is a sampling of different subjects at whatever level College Board deems appropriate, whereas IB is an internationally selected and moderated curricula that stresses multiple intelligences in all of the diploma candidates.</p>
<p>So if AP is available to you, take it, but if IB is also available, take IB over AP. </p>
<p>I am up for debating all of the points I have raised.</p>
<p>How is that international students get into both Oxford and Cambridge with only AP scores? It doesn’t sound to me as if IB is so strongly preferred.</p>
<p>You probably already know if you’re an IB candidate. IB appeals to a certain type of person; someone that truly has a love of learning as an integrated whole. All of your IB classes relate back to each other.</p>
<p>As for AP, some subjects are harder than IB; some are not. I think the great thing about the AP program is the wide range of subjects that can be taken, depending on your individual strengths. </p>
<p>I’ve found that AP Chemistry was much harder than IB SL; IB English blows AP English Lang and Lit out of the water. World History is about the same. It just depends.</p>
<p>So if you’re pretty good at everything, do IB. If you’re amazing at one or a few subjects and want to specialize, do AP.</p>
<p>how big a role does the other subjects that you choose in the IB matter? i mean, the supplementary subjects that are SL in level? i’m considering doing economics or business at undergraduate level, so i will be doing HL maths and Chemistry, but what if i decide to throw in the seemingly easier subjects for SL like geography…will i be at a disadvantage?</p>
<p>Is IB worth it? I go to a school that has IB, but otherwise could be better. Should I try to transfer to another school that doesn’t have IB, but more APs, and, well, a greater number of students who care about their grades? I’ve made up my mind, but I’m having second thoughts. Thanks.</p>
<p>IB is definitely worth it. I’m an IB diploma candidate heading into my senior year and I think everything I’ve went through so far has been worth it. I still have a normal high school experience, but I decided to take the opportunity to enhance my education. I’ve also done AP and can say I like IB so much more than AP. The subjects are very scattered and cover very interesting subjects. IB is much more rewarding. The extended essay actually may have been my favorite assignment I’ve ever given. Basically an essay on ANYTHING. :)</p>
<p>My school (private) only had AP. Another (public) school nearby had only IB. It was supposedly touted as being a better program. I thought AP was pretty damn challenging at times, but I obviously can’t compare it with IB.</p>
<p>I go to a high school that has both very strong programs for AP/IB. From what all of the past students say about IB is that it is a waste of time. The trend seems to be that IB students don’t really get into better colleges than those who only do AP. However, if you want to earn more credit for college, then taking many IB HL tests would be beneficial. It just seems that doing IB for the sake of getting into college does not help…</p>
<p>At my high school IB is a A LOT harder than AP.</p>
<p>2/3 of people who started in IB as a freshman dropped out by senior year. They couldn’t take it anymore.</p>
<p>Also, there are a bunch of people over here who drop out with like 3.0 GPA and then get straight A’s once they’re in AP.</p>
<p>AP in my school is complete ********. An IB kid with 3.5 weighted GPA can shoot up to 4.6 in two seconds if they choose to drop out of IB and do 6 AP classes. </p>
<p>I know a kid named John who got a bunch of C’s in sophmore IB, dropped out, junior year took 5 AP classes and got straight A’s. Wow…</p>
<p>And this guy named Max who dropped out with 2.9 GPA after first semester of junior IB and cruised out with straight A’s second semester and he would come to our IB table during lunch and say “this **** outside of IB is easy as @#$&.” </p>
<p>Is that fair to IB students who work their ass off to get a lower GPA? No.</p>
<p>I guess that means IB isn’t worth it here.</p>
<p>But the thing is that IB kids who graduate from our school come back a year after college saying “holy **** college is a lot easier now that I did IB! It’s freakin’ crazy!”</p>
<p>Lol…</p>
<p>So it depends on your perspective on if it’s worth it or not. In our school at least.</p>
<p>Do AP and live through high school on the beach, get into Ivy then get shot down once you’re there (because of sudden dramatic increase in level of courses) or do IB and not get into a really good college but excell once you’re in there (and get in a damn good graduate school).</p>