My son is interested in the IB degree. Would this be okay for a student wanting a degree in Engineering?
Yes, it would be fine. My son, now about to graduate with a C.S. degree, received the IB full diploma. We are not convinced that it is any better than AP. College admissions counselors generally state that they prefer students who took the most rigorous course options available to them at their high school. So whichever program your son’s school offers should be perfectly acceptable.
The IB diploma is considered a very rigorous degree. However, its usually 3 HL and 3 SL classes. Elite schools only give credit for top scores in the HL classes. Students in AP track often take 6-10 AP and potentially have more credit. Most students however can’t use their credits in college. Also some colleges (not the IVYs) give credit for obtaining the IB degree-in addition to the courses.
For engineering, its usually helpful to have advanced work in math and two sciences. This is easily accomplished in AP track. However its an unusual combination in IB.
It depends on which HL courses the IB program offers, versus which AP courses are offered. In your other thread, you mentioned that he is an 8th grade student in geometry, so consideration of what his math progression will be in either case can be relevant. The rigid scheduling of IB course work may force him to slow down or skip a year of math in some cases. On regular and AP math tracks, he may finish calculus in 11th grade, so consider whether taking more advanced math at a local college is feasable.
IB is usually considered a high workload, although IB HL scores are not generally seen by colleges as giving more advanced placement than AP scores.
Colleges like the IB, and they always want to see that a student has taken the most rigorous curriculum available. My uneducated opinion is that a student will not be penalized in admission if he or she had valid, evident reasons to opt out of the full IB program. That includes students strongly inclined toward Math and Science, who would be better served by taking extra STEM-related courses instead of Theory of Knowledge or HL English and History. It can also apply to a student who wants to pick up a second foreign language. I infer that a student (with adviser’s input) should be able to explain why he or she chose not to pursue the IB diploma at a school where it’s offered. Taking an alternative courseload that is at least as rigorous is perfectly acceptable.
It would be ok, but AP is typically better for a student interested in engineering. I personally found IB sciences to be lacking and other than IB HL, math is incredibly weak. IB has a lot of busywork that AP doesn’t have. IB is also rigid and would limit the amount of science/math classes he could take. Unless your son is also strongly interested in humanities, I would go AP.
Check into how credit is awarded at your son’s target schools. For us, DS1 was not allowed to take credit towards his engineering requirements for the 5 he earned on his AP Physics exam. He did receive general elective credit (worthless for him) and still had to take the class.
DS2, at a different university, was able to exempt 8 hours of engineering Physics/lab credit with his AP scores. At orientation though, they were told that, for those who did IB, the lab credit would not be allowed.
Talk to the GC to see which one would be better for engineering major. IB has very good rigor, but it may be less useful than taking AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Chem, etc.
If college credit is a priority, the advantage of IB is that your son will be able to take both the IB and AP tests with very little extra preparation. IB exams are often times more free-reponse in nature while AP exams are more multiple choice oriented giving them both two bites at the apple and the possibility of getting more credit with some of the schools that take a hodge lodge of scores. The same cannot be said about AP usually, as I believe (although this may have changed) students are not allowed to randomly take IB exams in the same way.
That said, IB often has the reputation of being more liberal arts focused than mathematical/scientific. I would look at the particular school’s curriculum to see if that bias is true of that school.
My daughter is an ib diploma graduate studying engineering. Given our experience I would recommend AP classes instead. He will have more flexibility in choosing more advanced science and math classes for engineering. IB is a very rigorous program with an extensive amount of writing. Consider IB if he likes writing and humanities. With AP classes he will more than likely place out of basic engineering class requirements and receive more college credit.
It all depends on how IB is implemented at the high school he would attend and on the AP courses that would be available to him if he did not choose IB.
In addition to the issues discussed above, consider the SAT Subject Tests. The IB curriculum, as implemented in some schools, does not mesh well with the Subject Tests required for admission to many engineering programs. This may prompt students to do borderline-insane things (e.g., taking AP Chemistry as an elective on top of the full IB program) to ensure decent Subject Test scores.
Engineering programs often want applicants to take Subject Tests in either physics or chemistry and in level 2 math. The student needs to be ready to take these tests by the end of 11th grade. Will a student in your local IB program be ready?
AP classes vary so much from school to school. IMO, they are rarely college equivalents. Is the average test score for the AP class at your HS in the 4+ range? - then they’re good classes. If the average is 3.3 or lower, it’s not being taught well. My daughter went to an IB magnet program. She’s in her second year of engineering and doing extremely well. The advantages of IB, even in engineering, are that IB students learn how to study efficiently, how to write well and write quickly, how to analyze problems quickly, etc. Those skills have made all the difference.
IB and AP programs vary, But typically IB has a LOT of work and limited course flexibity. If was fantastic for DS (Engieering) … but not so good for DD (who was not really ready for that rigor, including 2 science IB lab classes together when she was considering engineering.)
“For engineering, its usually helpful to have advanced work in math and two sciences. This is easily accomplished in AP track. However its an unusual combination in IB.” The feasibiliyt depends on the program and the kid. DS did HL Physics and SL Chem and HL math. He was incredibly well prepared for engineering. However I will say he worked his tail off to do that the various ECs he like On top of the coursework, he had to do Group4 project (not certain that’s the name - science group projet), 150 CAS hours and IB thesis. . AP would have been an easier path.
You will get more college credit from AP. But, an IB student can sign up to take the AP tests, and generally do pretty well. It’s also easier to get higher scores on AP tests than IB tests, due to how they grade (everyone taking the AP test can get a 5, while only a very small percentage of kids taking an IB test can get a 7)
I was also able to help my silly pre-med college friends with the first part of organic chemistry thanks to HL Chem.
My DD did the IB diploma and majored in Math in college. She did HL Math, HL Chem and HL Physics, SL English, SL Business and German Ab Initio. With a couple of summer courses, she was able to graduate a year and a half early because of IB. She went on to get a Masters as well so we paid for 4 years of college and she got 2 degrees.