<p>D is planning to take IB HL Biology, HL Chemistry and HL English. She spends a lot of time doing varsity sports, and I'm wondering if there are enough hours in the day. (It looks like she will be taking some IB, and some regular college track courses, school does not offer any AP.)I don't want to show a lack of faith, but is she going to be over worked by these choices? </p>
<p>She is also thinking of taking IB Ecosystems and Society, but it's new this year. Does anyone have any input on that class?</p>
<p>She is a good student, but has to STUDY a lot to get the good grades.</p>
<p>If your daughter was a full IB diploma candidate, she would be taking three HL subjects plus additional academic subjects. In general, in my experience, IB students take one or two of the SLs in their junior year and one or two in their senior year. They also have to take Theory of Knowledge, an academic subject unique to IB, at some point during those two years.</p>
<p>So what your daughter is planning is not too different from the course load of many full IB diploma candidates. She is just doing things a bit differently.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it is difficult to combine IB with major extracurricular commitments. I know that my daughter did fewer ECs while in IB than she would have done if she were not in IB. But some kids are just full of energy. They seem to manage.</p>
<p>You should be aware that many students who graduated from successful IB programs think that college is easier than IB. They also report that one of the advantages of being at college is that they can sleep more than they did in high school. Perhaps this will give you some idea of the level of commitment that IB entails.</p>
<p>My daughter and several of her IB classmates were varsity athletes. My daughter actually played two varsity sports her junior year. She decided to give up her spring sport for her senior year to be able to prepare for her exams -- exams came too close to the playoffs. Instead, she was in the spring theater production which was over well before exams. She didn't miss her spring sport at all. </p>
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<p>Which course IB or AP is considered more rigorous? I want to be in a program that better prepares me to get accepted to top university.</p>
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<p>Our local high school has both AP and IB. My D did AP rather than IB and got into H, S, and MIT. So either program can be taken to get accepted into a top university. Just anecdotal evidence, I know...</p>
<p>I agree with the poster who said that AP works better for those with narrower interests. </p>
<p>Also, we did have a student at our high school (1 year after my D) who went through the whole IB program and took the HL math test at end of senior year. Didn't pass it and didn't get an IB diploma. At the university she attends, she only got credit if she got the IB diploma. Her parents were not pleased, to say the least.</p>
<p>I find that funny, that people say AP works better for those with narrower interests; I think it works pretty well for those with broad interests, because 1.) there are many AP exams from which to choose; 2.) you can self-study for the tests, so even if your school doesn't offer the course, you can still take the exam.</p>
<p>ellemenope, congrats to your d for getting into those schools while taking AP in an IB school! I have had kids in both programs and agree with most other posters that the programs are pretty even in terms of college acceptance when at different schools. I would tend to advise kids in IB schools who are interested in the top colleges not to go the AP route because in that case the "most rigorous curriculum available" box is not checked for the AP only kids when the apps go out. Perhaps it is different at your school or your daughter's stats were so stellar that she was able to overcome that.
owlice, I think what is meant by AP being for narrower interests means the option to guard a weakness by avoiding an HL class. Marian's school is not alone as many IB schools in the states require HL English and HL History. This spells dooms for even relatively well-rounded math-science preferrers who don't enjoy hours of journaling per night. You are right, in terms of indulging broad interests, AP has many more courses to choose from. My IB kid self-studied several AP topics not available to him through IB.</p>
<p>"I think what is meant by AP being for narrower interests means the option to guard a weakness by avoiding an HL class"</p>
<p>It also can mean that a person who, for instance, loves science can load up on AP science classes and math classes even taking them at local universities when the course offerings run out at their high school. The requirements of IB may not leave the time to do this or the school may not offer enough courses in the IB program. For instance, S couldn't fit into his IB schedule his senior year IB chemistry II and an IB or AP physics class, something that engineering schools told him he'd need if he decided to go to engineering schools. He had to switch to a school offering extensive APs in order to take AP chem and AP physics at the same time.</p>
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<p>because in that case the "most rigorous curriculum available" box is not checked for the AP only kids when the apps go out<<</p>
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<p>At our school, if you do IB, the most rigorous curriculum box will always be checked. If you do AP, the counselors will see how many APs you've taken and in what subjects and then make an assessment as to whether the most rigorous curriculum box will be checked. Since I'm a parent volunteer with the counselors, I was able to check with them on their policy.</p>
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<p>I find that funny, that people say AP works better for those with narrower interests; I think it works pretty well for those with broad interests<<</p>
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<p>AP does work well for those with broad interests. And AP works better for those with narrower interests than does IB, since those students can pick and choose what AP classes to take. The statements are not incompatible.</p>
<p>I happen to like AP better for that reason, because it gives more students the opportunity to take the advanced classes.</p>
<p>ellemenope, I didn't say the statements were incompatible. Sure, AP students can choose which AP classes to take, but it's not as though they get out of taking English, history, math, science, or whatever subject is not their strong suit when they choose one or more AP class in their most-favored subject(s). Some IB schools allow students to pick which HL classes they take, so a student who isn't great in, say, English will pick SL instead.</p>
<p>Well-roundedness is more a hallmark of the requirements for graduation/college admissions than of IB or AP. College-bound students of the level we're discussing -- ones who would take AP classes/IB diploma -- are going to take English, history, science, math, foreign language regardless of which label is on their most advanced courses.</p>
<p>Going back to my second post on this thread, it's the implementation of each program that matters, not the label itself. The answer to the OP's question as to which is better for college admissions is still "that depends on to whom you talk, how good the implementation of each program is, how good the teachers are, and so on."</p>
<p>At our school, if you do IB, the most rigorous curriculum box will always be checked. If you do AP, the counselors will see how many APs you've taken and in what subjects and then make an assessment as to whether the most rigorous curriculum box will be checked. Since I'm a parent volunteer with the counselors, I was able to check with them on their policy.</p>
<p>ellemenope, That's the way they say it is at our school <em>except</em> my daughter took APs in English (lang and lit), Foreign Language (lang and lit), Science (chem), Social Studies (govt) + Calculus... and they did NOT check the "most challenging" box, just the "highly challenging" box. I think they're absolutely wrong but I figured out that any college who saw all those APs and thinks dd isn't taking a challenging enough load is off its rocker. (The argument is that dd would have had to take 7 periods of AP senior year for it to be the equivalent-- which is ridiculous because IB students don't take 7 HL classes and college students don't take 7 courses at a time.) There's nothing I can do now.</p>
<p>True but HL classes often require 2 years of study (meaning they're equivalent to 2 AP Classes...but unfortunately colleges don't see the distinction). I would say an AP class is roughly equivalent to an IB SL class.</p>
<p>"In my opinion, it is difficult to combine IB with major extracurricular commitments. I know that my daughter did fewer ECs while in IB than she would have done if she were not in IB. But some kids are just full of energy. They seem to manage."</p>
<p>A corollary to this is that an IB kid really needs to have or develop good time management skills. Without this, it will be really hard to have much free time. On the other hand, I have not observed my son having to do "hours of journaling each night," although some nights he has hours of homework.</p>