<p>The best advice you can have is to take the classes that appeal most to you. If you want hard classes, take those. If you want easy ones, take those. Rather than living your high school career worrying about what colleges will think, you should just take the classes you want to take. You’ll feel better, and you’ll learn more too.</p>
<p>With that said, if someone honestly cannot decide between AP and IB, then I guess it boils down partially to your academic strength. My school only offers AP, but I’ve been in the IB/MYP curriculum before. IB stresses writing more than AP (except maybe English). The biggest pro for IB is that it goes into much more depth than AP does (in general, because IB students take classes for 2 years, not just one). However, it does not - therefore - offer the same breadth.</p>
<p>AP is good if you are good in specific subjects and want to just take some higher level classes and not others.</p>
<p>so, what would be like the least score to be considered for admission? i mean, to be even CONSIDERED at all since there are like im sure many more people who would be better than you…</p>
I’m not sure what you’re asking, but you may be asking what IB scores the college will consider adequate. This depends on a few things. First of all, you should understand that for IB students in the U.S., IB scores are less important than regular high school grades. This is different from elsewhere in the world, where universities offer conditional admission based on predicted IB scores. This doesn’t really happen with US-based IB students. If you are an international student, this may be different.</p>
<p>^ maybe i was not clear enough…What i meant was, what IB scores do you think will be considered adequate by Princeton? and yes, i am an International Student who will be taking the IB come this August…</p>
<p>I would go with the AP/IB school. IF you are up to it, you can take a mixture of both IB classes and IB classes. Our valedictorian last year who goes to University of Chicago now did the IB diploma but then took the AP tests. He was both an AP national scholar and received an IB diploma. (must of payed a crapload to take all of those tests…) Anyways, both programs are really good but I have heard that AP english language is a VERY good class and really prepares you. I would start out doing the IB diploma and if you don’t like it, you can drop out of it.</p>
<p>He means the only way to do well is to slave over all of your projects during he summer because you just don’t have enough time to do them in the school years.</p>
<p>hi guys. i have a question. i am a highschool student. my school offers AP and IB. i have gone back and forth and i can’t decide. my current GPA is a 3.9 and weighted 4.9.
i want to become a doctor and i love math and science. in my teacher evaluations i have been recommended for 5 AP classes if i take that route, and 4 or 5 HL’s in IB if i do that. either way i have the rigour. however i dont know which one to do. any feedback or help would be greatly appreciated thank you!</p>
<p>My school is starting the IB program and my class (of 2012) will be the first to go through it. Unlike other IB schools, mine forces students to take certain classes. For example, there are no HL options in languages, math, or physics (the only HL science is bio). Therefore, all candidates are forced to take English HL, History HL, and an HL elective. In other words, our program is designed around liberal arts. From what everyone else has been saying, this shouldn’t be the case, but it works for me and I’ll probably be better off in this program.</p>
<p>What I find unfair is that only IB students get the checkmark on the “most rigorous course” on their applications. AP students who are more math and science oriented won’t be conidered as seriously.</p>
<p>Also, I spoke to a Columbia admissions officer a little over a week ago. She said a student should choose one path - AP or IB - and stick with it. There is no point in taking AP exams if you’re an IB candidate and vice versa, implying that having a list of high scores on exams probably won’t boost your chances.</p>
<p>I’m at an IB school right now, and the general consensus is that IB classes are harder than AP classes (at an IB school in particular; I don’t know how an AP class at an IB school would compare to an AP class at an AP school). Graduates of the IB Programme generally agree that IB helps one in college and that it’s more tight-knit than the AP program since there are themes that are related in multiple classes.</p>
<p>I am in IB right now, and we during the summer we write the EE, or the extended essay. It is a 4k word essay on a topic of our choice. It is freakin intense. I mean, FREAKING intense.</p>
<p>IB requires you to be an excellent writer above all else. it doesn’t matter what you take, you need to be able to write great essays. Unless you are fully confident that you are an talented writer, I suggest you consider AP</p>
<p>don’t do the IB since the school is just starting out, My school has been running IB for 40-50 years and we have developed an excellent prgrm. Do the AP, your IB would not deliver</p>
<p>The IB Diploma Years Program requires six areas of concentration (Math, Science, English, Foreign Langauge, History, Your Choice), an epistemology/philosophy course, and a major research project (the dreaded Extended Essay). But even if you earn A’s in all these tough courses, if you don’t score high enough on your IB tests, you will NOT be awarded the coveted IB Diploma. Now, it IS a risk to take on a challenge like that; and unfortunately the prevailing advice on these boards seems to be to avoid anything that could risk any negatives at all in your application. Admission boards live to see kids who take the harder path, and that entails risk. Let’s face it, if you’re an applicant with a sky high GPA and astronomical SAT/ACT and the usual group of ECs, what will convince the admission board you are different than all the other thousands of elite Princeton applicants? If you did not have the opportunity for IB at your HS, then you have an excuse, but that just means you’re from a second-tier pool of students to begin with. But if your HS DOES offer IB, and if you could have taken the IB path and did not, then you have not taken the road less traveled. And that just might make all the difference.</p>
<p>Nimby58 was completely incorrect about his/her assumption of AP being equal to IB. NOWHERE NEAR CLOSE. If such ppl try to sabotage IB in that way, they might as well be taking the easy way out by taking the IB workload credit. When you apply to colleges, they’ll ask you if you have taken the hardest courses that you possibly can. If your school offers IB, and you take AP, I quote, “You are NOT taking the hardest course offering at your school”. My IB classes are the roughest of all, and I’d like to say that it gets me frustrated when ppl like Nimby try to equate AP curriculum w/ IB because IB kids learn and dedicate so much of their time that some days you might just have the mood of a surgeon. However, I will not be entirely rash in my opinion as I do analyze that Nimby might not attend an IB school or that his/her school’s IB curriculum is pretty slackish in terms…or the students in his/her school only learn of AP stuff even when they are in IB. These are all possibilities that I have encountered, but in short, IB is much more comprehensive and muy duro. If you’re interested in grades, do AP. But if you are a true student and want to get the full advantage of a college education without actually paying/struggling to learn it in your college, you should do IB. </p>
<p>I am a senior in the IB program. Yes, it is challenging, but honestly it’s more the work load than the actual content (not to say the content is any easier than AP!). Junior and especially Senior year are FULL of essay writing, which is time consuming. However, the program exposes you to a lot of interesting concepts and curriculum you just don’t get in AP, and that’s the truth. You really get a lot out of it, and it’s really communal in that everyone’s in it together, and you feel like you’re kind of a part of something bigger than the average high school route. The thing about IB is that it’s an integrated PROGRAM, and so everything fits together and ties in. It’s definitely worth it, if you care about actually learning instead of just racking up credits which AP is good for. Besides, you still get to take lots of AP classes! I took 4 AP tests last year. Anyway, I’d be happy to answer any further questions about the IB program. Good luck!!!</p>