<p>We are in an AP/IB school so kids can pick either route or mix it up. From the experience of my kids and their friends, you are SOOOO right about the IB being more work than AP. </p>
<p>My son is at CMU and was a mix-it-up kid. He did not want to do the IB English…the excessive focus on one or two novels did not interest him…he wanted more of a survey class like AP. English is also a weakness for him and AP english is, frankly, much much less work than IB HL English. </p>
<p>In the end, he did 2 AP and 1 IB SL Math as a Sophomore. Junior/Senior year he had HL Spanish (bilingual), SL Physics, HL Math (co registered as AP AB/BC calc), AP English sequence, IB HL Art, but took one regular or honors class each year for a break. He took both IB and math AP exams. </p>
<p>He had a mediocre gpa 3.4 UW, 3.8 W. He applied to CMU as an CFA student so really the portfolio counted the most. He wanted to find out if he was capable of doing engineering or comp science courses so put these schools down as choices (not dual program) and even with these mediocre grades, tepid expression of interest (did not mention in his essay) and only Math II and Spanish SAT II (didn’t take a science SAT II) he was waitlisted in for those two programs. What I did notice is that he received a lot of AP credit but no IB credit…SL physics, despite being as rigorous as AP isn’t considered for credit by CMU. Most irritating is that the 7 on HL Spanish (two year course) counts for zero credit at CMU despite it being the same course that a spaniard takes! He did, however, get credit for AP spanish from 10th grade which is a joke for a native spanish speaker. My sense is that CMU, like most schools, underestimates the rigour of the IB SL courses. Thus, the full IB may be seen as an extremely rigorous program but my guess is that CMU doesn’t see it as any more rigorous than lots and lots of AP. There are several graduates from our HS at CMU in all the different colleges and all these kids took heavy IB and AP loads.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore in HS. There is a belief that full IB kids to do a little better in the admissions arms race…the ivys etc. so she thinks she should take IB. I think that is hooey…I think what seems to count is that the top colleges are very familiar with our HS and any kid with good grades and a lot of college level classes plus the test scores has a great chance at a great school… full AP students and mix it up kids make it to HYP and CMU also. The thing is that the very best students choose full IB so it isn’t surprising that they also do well in admissions. </p>
<p>There is one huge advantage of the IB program over AP t hat is seen post admissions. Kids who do the full IB at our school are apparently better prepared for college. Over and over again, I hear kids coming back from top schools saying that the IB program and IB courses were the best preparation. My S took only one year of HL comp science and his friend took AP comp science at our hs, both are at CMU both took intro comp science…hands down the IB course was the better preparation for CMU according to both kids. Two girls who went to Harvard and both turned down Brown…one was full IB the other full AP…both are doing very well but both say that the IB seemed to do a better job preparing the one for the harvard curriculum in liberal arts…all that writing! The math prep is very similar but the science curriculum is apparently way better and that is why AP is revamping bio and chem over the next year or two.</p>
<p>If it were my son and he liked the rigor at his IB HS and it sounds like the AP program at the alternative is not as great, I would keep him where he is. Remember that only 1 semester of his senior grades are considered for admission (not the year), it looks odd that he didn’t have the staying power in the IB program, and he will miss out on the biggest benefits of the program (the extended essay, the HL courses, TOK) and the camaradarie of his senior year. Just to maybe improve his chances to get into CMU?! The change may even hurt his chances. </p>
<p>I think we focus too much on the “getting into college” aspect of high school curriculum instead of focusing on how to best harvest long term benefits of intellectual stimulation and the social growth that comes during high school. I keep telling D to choose IB if she is interested in the program for her own learning and growth…if it, however, is going to mean that she can’t play a sport each semester (as she does now) and she really really values the sports aspect of HS then perhaps she should mix it up, not do the extended essay, and avoid the dreaded IB English course. Her worry is the opposite of your son’s . She asked me, could avoiding the full IB nix her chances for Yale (dream school)?..perhaps, but we will never know. Like your son, she has a great chance of getting into zillions of other great universities so she should focus on getting the most out of her high school years rather than trying to fine tune her transcript to improve her chances for a particular college.</p>