<p>Hi.
I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and was wondering if I should go to AP or IB.
In Alberta, high school is typically from Grades 10-12. Grade 10 is pre-IB and grades 11 and 12 are IB.
Afterwards, I want to attend the top American universities, of the likes of Stanford and the Ivy League.</p>
<p>For me, I like the following about IB:
- Very intellectual
- Very well-rounded
- Very in-depth, large perspective.</p>
<p>The big problem is difficulty, and while managing the workload, I want to run a company and partake in other extracurriculars, plus, it is tough to get good grades. I wish to take the following classes out of what is offered:</p>
<p>Group 1 - Literature HL
Group 2 - French SL
Group 3 - History HL
Group 4 - Chemistry HL + Physics SL
Group 5 - Math SL</p>
<p>I know that AP also has the things that I like about IB, but to a lesser extent. Yet I am completely okay with going in AP and would enjoy it very much!</p>
<p>Also: no public high school in Calgary offers IB and AP, and, while debated and roughly equal, I believe my designated IB school to better than my designated AP school, but both are great and do send kids to top American colleges.</p>
<p>Well, it’s basically like you said - American colleges view them as practically equal. At any rate, choosing one or te other isn’t going to make or break you, so you might as well do the one you like which seems to be IB. IB can be a grade killer, no doubt, but taking the easy way out (your AP school) isn’t going to benefit you either in the long wrong.
As for EC’s you might be able to spin it so that they count for CAS hours ;)</p>
<p>You can potentially earn more college credit with AP. Most colleges will only give credit for IB HL. If the school grades according to the IB scale, yes you will not get all 7’s,but colleges know that.</p>
<p>A pro-point for AP is also the resources, from books to Crash Course to the College Board to college planning sites on the Internet. Also, would taking IB make my weighted GPA, say, 6.5? What looks better: an AP 4.9 or an IB 6.1?</p>
<p>IB is the gold standard and viewed more positively by college admissions because it is a comprehensive program across several disciplines. To be competitive for the schools you list, you need to be at least a 43/45 in IB with your SATs all in the mid-700s. This won’t mean you will accepted but means you will be competitive. In terms of college credit, skieurope is correct that many more colleges give credit for AP but increasingly more colleges give credit for IB classe and in some cases give bonus points for the IB diploma. I suggest you search the websites of the five colleges that are of most interest to you for their specific policies in terms of credit for AP or IB coursework. </p>
<p>huh. Is that really how your school weights it? On a scale of 5 for AP and 7 for IB? Most American colleges will recalculate it with their own GPA formula. Both scores you mentioned look pretty good, it’s like asking the difference between a 3.8 and a 3.9.</p>
<p>For those of you in IB, how much of a workload do you typically get? I am okay with spending many hours on IB work, but I also want to be able to write books, publish a magazine, partake in extracurricular activities, program and run a tech start-up.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>And, @FrenchieXX
I am not sure as to how the high schools will work their GPA, and I’m looking into that, but I know that American colleges work that out differently, as, here in Canada, if you aren’t in IB or AP, you don’t even have a GPA, but rather an average percentage, such as 98%.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about the 11th to 12th grade actual two years of IB then,
I wouldn’t do it IF your school has a good AP program. AP allows kid to take more college-level classes and get more credit. Most IB courses are 2 years long while AP courses are one year long. All AP classes except for one or two give college credit while none of the SL exams for IB give credit (I believe this is true for most universities. If you’re school has no other college prep program (AP, AICE, dual-enrollment) then IB is probably the best choice for an above average student
There is an intense amount of work, people have sought medical treatment for stress at my school and the high achievers are abusing aderall in order to get the work done and improve their studying (DEFINITELY NOT ADVISED)
You will do more work at home then at school. Probably 45 minutes a night for most classes of you have six classes then it comes out to 4.5 hours. This means that if you do a sport or other time-consuming activity then it will be stressful. </p>
<p>My advice is to do AP if your school has it because it is less focused on time-involvement and more on learning the actual information and concepts. </p>
<p>check out this link: <a href=“http://catalog.ucf.edu/policies/accelera”>http://catalog.ucf.edu/policies/accelera</a>… It has tables showing how UCF gives college credit for both systems and while I acknowledge this may differ greatly from the colleges you plan on going to. This seems to be a very normal credit by examination policy for most college. The main difference between AP and IB is that in IB the courses are two years long which hampers your ability to take accrue alot of college credits, UNLESS if you supplement IB with AP classes, like my school makes IB kids take APUSH and AP Euro and those two classes contribute alot to their college credit totals when they graduate high school. I also have to disagree with the point of AP teaching being sub par compared to IB programs. At my school, some of the overlapping classes (Psychology, Chem, Calc/Stat etc.) are taught at the same level if not AP going more in depth and I’m referring to HL’s when I talk about the IB courses. So, we learn faster, but we also learn at the same thought level as IB courses. The teaching of kids how to think, while I may disagree whether a student actually needs to be taught that skill, is also going to be equalized in coming years because the AP Program is adding two new courses in 2016 that focus primarily on thinking and research.</p>
<p>The main thing that it comes down to is that taking 4-5 AP courses in your junior and senior year is probably just as rigorous and educational as partaking in the IB program. this is coming from a student at a high school with both an IB and AP program has done multiple classes jointly with IB while being part of the AP program and also having seen some of the IB HL chem and Calculus exams online and comparing them to AP exams.</p>
<p>@Astrotech, our S is a senior in IB, but has many friends from another high school in AP. In their group, it’s widely believed that the IB kids have less free time due to all the extra work needed for the IB Diploma. My son did participate in some ECs, but would have had more time for them and others had he not been in IB. The enormous amount of writing, plus CAS, IAs,Theory of Knowledge, and Extended Essay really cut into your time. It’s brutal, at least in his school. </p>
<p>I can’t recommend the IB program in good conscience. It’s been a huge regret (if you ever see me post about IB, you’ll see this quickly!) for me, especially on the college front. However, I have a friend that applied to and has been accepted to several UCs, including UC Berkeley, so you may have good luck with college apps like she has. But I don’t think the IB program’s worth it at all, the workload is far more than any AP workload I’ve seen (including the students who take the most APs allowed in a year), and you end up finished with a class like TOK where you’ve done the two assessments, yet your teacher is still making you do the same work for no reason.
<em>Sigh</em> I could go on, but I won’t. In short, no, I don’t recommend it. AP, all the way.</p>
<p>I might be starting to lean towards AP, but these are the points that I have for IB:
I like the IB school better than the AP school.
The AP school offers few extracurricular activities, but the IB school has the most in Calgary.
IB seems more intellectual and well-rounded to me, and I am indifferent and leaning towards liking the EE, TOK and CAS
I am in a gifted program at my school, and the majority of us are going into AP or IB. Aside from many misconceptions, a lot of the less-intellectually-oriented students are going into AP, whereas the majority of the smarter students are going into IB.</p>
<p>Also, just a question - the AP school has the following AP courses; how do they translate to, say, World History and Physics AB and BC? Thanks!</p>
<p>Math 10-C AP
Math 20-1 AP
Math 30-1 AP
Math 31/35 AP
Social Studies 10-1 AP
Social Studies 20-1 AP
Social Studies 30-1 AP
English 10-1 AP
English 20-1 AP
English 30-1 AP
Science 10 AP
Chemistry 20 AP
Chemistry 30/35 AP
Biology 20/30/35 AP
Physics 20 AP
Physics 30/35 AP
Art 10 AP
Art 20 AP
Art 30/35 AP</p>
<p>Math 31 Calculus AB
Social Studies 30 European History
English 30 English Literature
Chemistry 30/35 Chemistry
Biology 30 Biology
Physics 30 Physics C
Art 30 Studio Art
French 30 French Language</p>
<p>The 10/20 courses are lower level preparation courses.</p>
<p>Biology 35, Math 35, and Physics 35 are not listed in the course catalog. Art 35 is listed as an extension of Art 30.</p>
<p>Oh, and @FrenchieXX:
When I said that they are roughly equal, I meant that I find my designated AP and IB schools to be roughly equally good, but I did know that top American universities view the two programs equally, although I did not mean the latter.</p>
<p>I’m a junior in IB currently in a school in California and as far as I’ve hear, IB is taken slightly over AP. While in IB I have the opportunity of taking both AP and IB courses, I would say IB is definitely more challenging. On top of the classes, you have to consider the extra work you get from the IBO as well, like your extended essay and internal assessments. I’ve had many sleepness nights thanks to the extra work IB so graciously assigns me, but its worth it in the end for me. I’ve also heard UCs will gladly take the IB student over the AP student for such a reason.</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer AP to IB, but you should figure out which program would fit you best. I go to a school where both programs are offered, and IB is more of a liberal arts program and taught from a more global/international perspective. Also, usually only IB HL classes are considered “college level,” but all AP classes are. Besides that, there really isn’t much difference between the two programs.</p>
<p>Some other things you should take into consideration:</p>
<p>1) Top colleges do not favor IB or AP. However, they do care a lot about your grades, so you should think about which school you would get better grades at. For the colleges you want to go to, you should be getting grades of 90-100%.</p>
<p>2) CAS and the extended essay might get in the way of your extracurricular plans.</p>
<p>3) It sounds like you’d fit in better at the IB school.</p>
<p>4) While it’s true that you would receive more college credit from AP than IB at most schools, prestigious colleges, like Standford and the Ivy Leagues, typically don’t give much credit for either.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I like that you posted which IB courses you would take. You should find out what your schedule would look like at the AP school, and see which one you like more.</p>
<p>My kids were in IB, and they benefited from it, but I don’t believe that US colleges favor it over AP. Take the option that provides the best teachers. The quality of IB (and AP) is school-specific.</p>