Is there any advantage in doing IB vs AP for Ivy acceptances, given all other things are equal hypothetically?
I don’t think so. My son’s school offers the choice of doing IB or AP route, and it took me awhile to figure out the difference between the two and whether there’s any advantage to one over the other. In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter which route to go as long as you take the most rigorous courses that convince college admissions folks that you’re college ready. There’s NO evidences that suggest that Ivy colleges prefer, or give advantages to, one way or the other.
Many people, however, attests that IB “prepares” the student for a college life better. There maybe some truths to this. In addition to taking the usual rigorous courses, students in the IB program must also complete the personal MYP Project in the 10th grade and the Extended Essay in the 12th grade as partial requirements for earning the IB diploma. The courses, too, are designed such that the IB students seem to spend more time in completing their course assignments in comparison to those in the AP program. Anecdotally, I often hear stories of AP students struggling in the 1st year in college whereas I hear stories of smoother transition to college among those who completed IB. My oldest son, who’s in his first year in college, went through the IB program, and he says the college is actually easier than the high school years.
The apparent consensus is that IB tends to be much more work than other types of courses that students take while in high school, although it does not really get significantly more advanced in material coverage than AP courses do. The extra work means that IB students are forced to learn better time and workload management, but it can create an impression of just having extra work for extra work sake, and may interfere with the time available for extracurricular activities.
IB diploma is also a more structured program, while AP courses can typically be taken à la carte.
In terms of college admissions, AP and IB are viewed equally.
I agree with the above view that IB tends to be more work and better prepare students for college rigor. However, it’s also worth noting that most schools have better AP transfer credit policies than they do for that of IB.
@golfcashoahu is correct regarding credit. If credit is important to you, do AP. However, I myself did IB and took AP courses along the way in HS as well, so I will be alright with the amount of credit I’ll have coming in. You could try that as well.
I’m not sure that that statement is valid, although basically any college that gives you credit for IB will only give credit for HL, so you’ll won’t have the opportunity to get as much credit as you could with AP.
Anyway, agree with all of the all of the above - IB vs. AP won’t matter for college admissions.
Let me point out one thing: getting college credits for AP is NOT unlimited. Better check with each college as to how many AP courses they’d transfer AND what AP exam score qualifies. It’s on average 3 or less.
On the other hand, some (non-Ivy, though) colleges do take unlimited IB HL courses for credit transfer as long as the exam score qualifies. Some of these students graduated in 3 years because of the number of successful transfer of IB credits.
@TiggerDad is right. Many schools cap your AP credit (although they might be more generous on placement.) Getting credit for IB courses a la carte can be harder because most schools accept HL only, but many schools (Harvard was one, I haven’t checked recently) would give a full year for the IB Diploma IF you had all 7s (in which case, you’re getting credit for SLs.)
While not an Ivy, Union gives a full year for the IBD but only after successful completion of the freshman year. It really differs from school to school.
There is clearly a cost benefit to the IBD if you get a full year, and if you’re embarking on a path that will require a lot of schooling, this could be attractive.
As to the impact on applications, probably little to none. I think that many colleges recognize that the IBD path is “most rigorous” but a student who has a lot of APs (and particularly ones that match his/her passions) will also be considered to have pursued a “most rigorous” path. Many students choose AP over IB because they don’t want to take higher level foreign language, want more sciences, etc. It will also depend on what your school offers – in many cases, certain courses may be offered for IB or AP but not both. In this case, you’re best off following your heart and taking what interests you.
@skieurope You’re correct about the cap for credits (usually ~2). The point is that AP students can take ~10 AP classes and thus have 10 chances to get a 4 or a 5. IB Diploma candidates can only take 3 (or 4) HL classes, so you have fewer opportunities for credit. Even more, if you take “hard” HL classes (like HL math), you’re at another disadvantage, etc.
As an aside, why do colleges only accept scores of 6 or 7 (on HL exams)? I’m pretty sure a 5 on an IB HL exam is the same percentile as a 4 on the AP, but I may be wrong. [Personally, I think the policy for IB students should be EITHER get credit for 5,6, or 7 on HL exams OR credit for 6 or 7 on SL/HL exams.
My youngest daughter is in IB. Lots of kids in her program take the AP test as well. For example is you are taking chemistry SL you are prepared to take the AP chemistry exam. So far all my daughter friends that are ahead of her of scored 5 on their AP exams. She might do the same thing for her SL classes and maybe some HL classes.
Lots of colleges accept scores of 5 on IB HL exams for subject credit.
An SL course may not necessarily cover all of the topics in an HL course, so a college giving advanced placement for a high enough HL score may not necessarily consider even a 7 SL score to be equivalent.
That shouldn’t be an issue as most IB kids take AP exams, it’s just that IB isn’t less flexible and more time consuming.
Perhaps in your school they do, but “most” kids don’t. The amount overlap between AP & IB depends upon the subject.
Perhaps also whether the teacher “tops up” an IB course to include material present in the AP course but not specified for the IB course.