<p>Do they care? By the end of my high school career, I'll have taken 6 IB exams and 7 AP exams, with a few overlaps. But most of my classes are labelled IB, and I'm technically an "IB Student". Is that better or equal to AP? At my school, IB is rigorous, we always graduate students with at least 35 IB points and our IB courses are definitely harder than most people's AP's courses, infact some of our pre-IB courses ARE AP courses. </p>
<p>So my question is, will colleges see IB as above AP or would I have been better off taking AP classes and getting getting a higher GPA and class rank and having more time to do other things?</p>
<p>I've heard from people that colleges see IB and AP on the same level, but that doesn't seem right considering all the millions of extra things IB has us do. I got a 5/5 on the AP Bio and a 4/7 on the IB bio SL, but colleges only accept 6/7 or 7/7 on bio HL, which seems like BS to me.</p>
<p>I think its more of a matter of personal suitability. I took IB but I actually prefer AP, suits my learning style more. EE's are dreadful though (I chose physics since history was full lol). IB is more rigorous in some of the core courses though, such as physics, which covers about the same curriculum as 3 AP physics tests.</p>
<p>In terms of colleges though, IB I've found people think to be for more well balanced individuals while AP lets you focus more on areas you like (more diversity than IB). So, if you have some kind of passion, pursue it in AP. Otherwise IB will probably be give you a more well-rounded impression. They are weighted similarly, but as stated, some IB courses will be split up into different tests for APs.</p>
<p>Ok. Here's the low-down (from a totally biased IB student)
Our school took a survey of the average GPA drop (after entering college) for IB students from our school and found that it was significantly less than that for AP students.
I have taken both IB and AP courses (and dual-enrollment courses) and I have to say that IB courses are marginally better. While colleges don't care a bunch, I like to believe that IB is given a little bit more preference (just because it is more unusual and rigorous).</p>
<p>I don't think they really care...
But most of them seem to only view HL as equivalent to AP which is seriously unfair.</p>
<p>Anyway I still prefer IB over AP
The AP exams are really memorization-based whereas IB exams test you on what you actually know and how well you know the things you've learned.
Plus IB courses involve more discussion which is always better and more fun than lectures...</p>