D19 wants to add two AP classes to her full IB Diploma schedule next year, since it will look good to colleges. I feel that many view the IB Diploma program as the most rigorous curriculum a HS student can take, and that the extra stress of two (or even one) additional AP class is not worth it - thoughts?
How can one even physically fit in an additional class with a full IB diploma?
Regardless, a full IB diploma will generally get marked as the “most” rigorous schedule by the GC. There is no “super-duper rigorous” box or “most rigorous plus” box. In the 10 minutes an AO has to read an application, they will not microanalyze a schedule, so overextending to “look good to colleges” is folly, IMO.
Now if there is a class that she wants because it’s interesting/fun/whatever, that’s fine, with the caveat that it makes no sense overloading a schedule if it impacts the grades in other courses. Also, she needs to remember that she has a hidden class in the Fall - College Applications and Essays. Everyone underestimates the time those will take.
No don’t do it…IB already “looks good” to colleges. Listen to @skieurope
In my kids’ school this was pretty standard. 8 period schools that allow 2 SLs tested and complete at the end of jr yr often have kids doing at least one AP in jr yr and at least 2 in sr year. 8 periods with the IBD isn’t at all desirable, don’t get me wrong, but in US schools where the IBD scores are not exactly stellar, the APs are important. Until the actual IBD score becomes more significant, such schools are not likely to risk opting out of the double up aspect and going to some nice IBD friendly 6 1/2 periods instead. I remain conflicted, to be honest. E.g. math, HL math is much harder than BC calc AND AP stats spread out over the 2 yrs.
I am taking one extra AP course in addition to my IB diploma cause I could not take CS as an IB course at my school but i dont think taking extra aps on top of IB would make a huge difference in applications
I would go for it ONLY if the APs are related to the major your daughter is interested in, or they teach skills useful for that major.
I’m going to trot out me as an example. I want to be a civil rights lawyer, so I took AP classes which taught me the argumentation and analysis skills related to it (APUSH, Lang, Lit, Seminar, Stats, Research) or to fill holes in my schedule or to get credit because they’re easy (Psych, Bio), and because I needed Stats for my Master’s in International Relations.
Those are all relatively reasonable reasons to take them, but taking too many, especially with all IB, won’t make it look impressive. In fact, it may hurt her; she’ll be too stressed, and colleges may question whether she’s committed to one area, or too spread out. I don’t know what courses are offered in IB, so I can’t explain if her courses are related to her degree. Using filler APs is a bad idea especially as part of an already strenuous workload.