<p>So I am considering applying to an IB school in my area if I don't make UNCSA (and the odds are definitely not in my favor for that), but I'm not sure if the extra work will be beneficial. IB and AP are weighted the same in my district, but IB might look better on my apps. However, I might miss the opportunity to be taking AP exams, which I assume are important for colleges. Can somebody give me guidance?
BTW, the weighting scale is really weird here... IB and AP get you 6.0 GPAs if you pass with an A, 5.0 if you pass with a B, and 4.0 with a C. Seminar classes are 5.0, 4.0, and 3.0. Regular classes are 4.0, 3.0, and 2.0.
If it is of any interest, I want to major either in chemistry or go through an accelerated med school program. If none of these plans work out, I'll just apply for Wake Forest.
Can anyone recommend me some accelerated med programs with a high acceptance rate?
Sorry for rambling. :S</p>
<p>bump…bump…bump…
PLEASE REPLY :’(</p>
<p>They are viewed equally my friend to answer your first question and for the one about do colleges care, sadly not really but AP courses can never hurt if you do well in them as they will significantly bring up your weighted GPA and some colleges give credit depending on what you got on the test.</p>
<p>As far as I am aware, depending on the prestige of the school you are applying, they do care about IB and AP, and therefore the difficulty of the courses you took in High School. If you have a good grade but took easy/joke courses, then they will view you less favorably than someone who has done the more rigorous work, because that means that, chances are, that person is and/or will be more prepared for the difficulty of University (because there is a fair gap in difficulty, especially if you go from a US public school, given they are, from what I have seen from friends that I have who attended them, a joke in terms of difficulty as opposed to IB, and therefore University). </p>
<p>As for which program you should take, well it depends, if you are only planning on applying to US schools than the AP/IB does not matter, but if you are also thinking of places like Oxford/Cambridge in the UK, or UofT/UBC/McGill in Canada, than IB might be better. That being said, as someone who took the IB program and someone who has taken AP exams (but not the courses), I can tell you that AP is a fair bit easier than the IB (at least based on taking Calc AB, Physics B, and MicroEcon) and you can do well on the exam portion with little effort. While on the other hand, IB exams are longer, go more indepth, and are more difficult (again just based on my own observation). Taking AP/IB can be very beneficial for you for 1st year University, in the sense that you can just come in and be ready for the rigor. In my 1st year, I partied a whole lot, did very little work, and still pulled of a 3.7, because most of what I was learning was stuff I had already learned before in IB. On the other hand I knew people who were stressing out and doing poorly (even though they used to do well in HS in Canada) because they were, simply put, unprepared for the difficulty of Uni, whereas private schools with IB/AP prepare you for it. </p>
<p>Anyway to conclude, these programs are certainly very good, but I would advice you to take AP simply because it is easier, yet is worth (at least to my knowledge) equally as the IB.</p>
<p>IB is better than AP IMO.</p>
<p>why don’t you just email the schools you’re interested in and ask them</p>
<p>ClassOf2015, why do you think IB is better? I have taken IB courses, and have taken both IB and AP exams. I feel like in IB you learn quite a bit more and go more in depth, but because of that, the exams are significantly harder than AP exams, and doing well in IB classes is, in general, harder. If one is trying to get into an Ivy league school (or a top 10 school), it would make more sense to do AP because, as far as I am aware, schools do not discriminate much between the two, yet it is easier to do well on AP courses. Granted I have only take 3 AP exams, but they were all really easy compared to the IB counterparts (or were really easy in general, Microecon was a joke, way too many easy multiple choice questions, Calculus AB was also easy, for the same reason lots of easy multiple choice, on the IB there is no MC in Math, and Physics B, was easier, but not significantly easier). </p>
<p>Actually, stressdouttt is right, just email the school and ask them, they are bound to give you a better/more accurate reply than us.</p>