IB vs. AP

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
1

<p>I want to study at an Ivy League university in America - please don't bother telling me the statistics as I am already aware. My school offers AP and IB. It is the reason I transferred there to aid in the admissions process. Which is better - AP or IB? </p>

<p>IP SUBJECTS OFFERED:
Group1: English A1
Group 2: Spanish B, Spanish ab initio, French
Group 3: History, Economics
Group 4: Physics, Chemistry, Biology
Group 5: Maths, Maths Studies
Group 6: Visual Arts </p>

<p>Other subjects are available to be taken online and are supervised by ISWA staff.
Subjects offered may vary from year to year, depending on student demand and teacher availability.</p>

<p>AP SUBJECTS OFFERED:
1. Languages
English Literature and Composition
English Language and Composition
French Language and Composition
Spanish Language and Composition</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Sciences
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Computer Science</p></li>
<li><p>Mathematics
Calculus AB</p></li>
<li><p>Social Sciences
Microeconomics
Macroeconomics
US History
World History
Psychology</p></li>
<li><p>Electives
Studio Art</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Other subjects are available to be taken online and are supervised by ISWA staff.</p>

<p>I want to become a diplomat/entrepreneur so I don't think in regards to IB, that Visual Arts and Science is relevant, however I do know that Ivy Leagues require you to do a science. </p>

<p>I am nearly fluent in German, Mandarin, French and I am learning Spanish and Russian. If I do IB then I have to do Visual Arts and a science! Also, I want to go to a US University, hence I will need to know US History! And regardless, I want to study history!! If I do IB I would want to do Economics which means I can't do History! And I don't even know if history includes US history. As the SAT test now incooperates US History. </p>

<p>Should I do AP or IB? Personally I have heard the IB is more rigorous, and I want to show US Unis that I have a rigorous course load. However, AP appeals more to me as there are more subjects I am interested in. </p>

<p>Which one should I do? I want to show the Ivies that I am taking the more rigorous course load! </p>

<p>If I do AP, I plan on studying: </p>

<p>AP Calc. AB
AP Macroeconomics
AP US History
AP World History
AP English Lit
AP French
AP German
AP Psychology (Does this count as Science? Harvard requires 4 years of science with one advanced course)
AP US Government and Politics - Online </p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

2

<p>As a former IB student, I just hated IB so I usually recommend against it. However, I think since you just want to make sure that your school will tell colleges that you took the most rigorous course load possible, you should go ask your guidance counselor. Just say that you’re pretty sure IB would get counted as most rigorous, but would AP be counted as such as well? Also, you don’t necessarily have to take Visual Arts, as IB lets you sub out the Group 6 class for another class I think, not sure if only Group 4. I know I took ES&S for that credit, so I’d ask about that too.</p>

<p>About Psychology, it’s technically a Social Science. Some people (and unis) put that under science, some people put it under social studies. I personally do not consider it a science, but I’m also a future Bio major, so I’m a little biased ;)</p>

<p>Basically, IB doesn’t sound at all like what you want. Everything you seem to be saying here indicates that you’d prefer AP. So just check with your guidance counselor, and go from there. We don’t know your school’s policies, so… we can only be of so much help.</p>

3

<p>Psychology is a social science, not an actual science subject like Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.</p>

4

<p>@Animefan1998 Not that I like psychology I just want to point out, psychology is a “actual field of science”, it just falls under social science and is considered “soft science” (or as you suggested “not a science subject”) due to the challenge of evaluating through quantitative and scientific method. </p>

5

<p>I loved IB and highly recommend it, but every person is different so I don’t automatically assume that it’s for everyone. I think you’d be happy either way since you seem mainly concerned with credentials.</p>

<p>First off, you can solve one problem by substituting IB economics for your group 6 elective. Then, you can take both IB history and economics and you won’t have to take any visual arts. IB History of the Americas encompasses history of the U.S. as well as other countries in the Americas, and every teacher does the course with a different take on U,S. history. If you want to go for an AP U.S. History test of SAT Subject Test in history, some self-study may be involved but some colleges give you U.S. history credit for IB History of the Americas HL anyways.</p>

<p>For someone who wants to be a diplomat/entrepreneur I would recommend IB because of its global emphasis. IB’s goal is to promote peace through a greater understanding of people and human relations, so… yeah. IB’s history class actually made me like history for the first time since 8th grade because it was incredibly interesting–our 20th Century Topics class was all about how people attempted to create peace and how people fell into war and I was completely hooked as if I was watching a soap opera. The TOK class will leave your head spinning about what morality is and what is right and what doesn’t even matter because everything is so relative and subjective. </p>

<p>IB is, in my humble opinion, much more of an experience because it goes beyond facts and curriculum. It was fantastic in my school because we weren’t nearly as uptight about being perfect and just enjoyed the program and each other a bit more. At some schools I think a lot of this effect is lost and the program becomes much more about being better than the competition. I don’t know where your school stands on the spectrum. </p>

<p>College wise, I believe IB and AP are seen as roughly equals but AP generally gives more generous credit. </p>

<p>Which IB subjects would you study? I assume that you’d start with HL Economics and History of the Americas…</p>

<p>Sorry for the humongous post!</p>

6

<p>Background: I am a second year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. I’m pre-law am double majoring in Economics and Political Science with a minor in Linguistics. I applied to colleges fall of 2012 as an IB Diploma candidate (and later received my diploma with a composite total of 41). My sophomore year I took AP Euro, AP Psych, and AP Macroeconomics. My junior year (in addition to my IB course load), I audited AP US History and AP Chem. Taking the AP classes in full would have been a huge mistake; IB keeps one busy enough itself, adding AP spreads one far too thin. </p>

<p>As a student who has taken both IB and AP, I can confidently say that my IB Diploma candidacy gave me a slight advantage while applying to colleges. Going into my junior year I was unsure about IB. I hadn’t really heard of IB and I feared that colleges wouldn’t have known enough about it either. This was not the case. As I started going to college fairs and visiting schools, I’d keep asking “How do you weigh IB against AP?” 9/14 schools told me flat-out that they felt IB is a more rigorous program than AP (and I agree). The other 5 schools stayed on middle-ground, saying they accept both types of students and don’t value on over the other. Among those 9 schools were University of Chicago (where I now go to school), University of Virginia, Duke, Cornell, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Yale and Notre Dame. </p>

<p>If you look up the statistics, you’ll see the same. Yale has a discouragingly low acceptance rate of 7%. IB students? 20%. That’s a colossal difference. Even larger jumps? Berkeley goes from 24% to 58%. The proof is in the numbers. All IB students know that IB is not a walk in the park… and colleges know that too. </p>

<p>Also, since you mentioned your interest in Ivys in particular, I’ll mention that I was admitted to Yale and Dartmouth. (2 of the 3 Ivys I applied to) A close peer applied as an AP student and had stellar grades, GPA, and yada-yada. My grades were decent as well, but by the numbers she seemed like a strong student academically. She was rejected from both. In my interview for Yale, the alum commended me for my choice to pursue IB and said it would “pay off in the adcom’s eyes.” Very encouraging. </p>

<p>While you seem to know about the IB program, I think many other readers may benefit for some brief clarification. </p>

<p>IB vs AP is not simply IB classes vs AP classes. APs are classes gearing up for a test while the IB Diploma is a program that has many other requirements other than the individual classes. Each IB class requires an IA (Internal Assessment) as well as presentations and papers that are externally evaluated by the IBO (IB Organization) from somewhere in the world. IB classes are 2 years long and end with a series of papers (tests) in the month of May. The IB tests are mostly writing, which makes them more difficult than the largely multiple choice AP tests. IB has a global focus. For private universities (from what I can tell) this is a huge plus. IB teaches from a global perspective which encourages diversity and open-mindedness. For example, History SL/HL is not taught from any particular nation’s perspective. It is detailed and gives you the most holistic understanding of every event. (This is something that’s hard to recognize unless you’ve been taught IB History.) IB also has TOK, CAS, and the EE. TOK (Theory of Knowledge) is an additional course all Diploma students must take, and yes, it is graded. CAS (Creative, Action, Service) is a leadership requirement that mandated 50 hours of service in each of the C,A,S components. The EE (Extended Essay) is a 4000 word investigative paper that is completed over 2 years that is also externally assessed. The takeaway is this: IB requires leadership, service, responsibility, and an in-depth understanding of every subject a candidate pursues. The tests are more difficult, and the classes (from what I’ve found) are more challenging. </p>

<p>IB is a lot of work, but colleges know that too. If you’ve already made your choice and have choses IB, I hope this reaffirms your decision and serves as motivation.</p>