<p>I'm only a sophomore in high school right now and I'm in the Pre-IB program. I am planning on going for the full IB diploma but I was wondering how much of a difference IB makes when applying for colleges. For people who have received an IB diploma...What college did you get into?</p>
<p>Many college officers see the IB as the most rigorous program available to high school students. When asked, they have said they prefer it to IB.</p>
<p>At my school, where all students take the IB, 20% of the graduating class routinely goes to the Ivy League.</p>
<p>tangmello just celebrate, you got in now, all u have to do is study hard and have good grades.
yes, it makes a HUGE difference
HUGE difference</p>
<p>oh really? my counselor told me it doesnt really make much of a difference as long as you take a lot of ap classes and that it depends on whether you choose to take courses more in depth</p>
<p>AP and IB look the same to colleges, so stop being a bragging d.i.c.k., @kameronsmith. And ACTUALLY, “many college counselors” say both are much easier than college courses at hard universities, so neither really impresses them all that much.</p>
<p>It’s all about what’s available to you. If IB is available, you will be expected to participate. If only APs are available, you will be expected to load up on APs.</p>
<p>My county has school choice, and there is one school about 30 minutes away that offers IB…it really is a bad school except for its IB program…I am going to a school that is much closer, doesn’t have AP (or IB), but it does have good academics with a lot of dual enrollment. Colleges won’t do a quick google, and see that I could have done the IB program, right?</p>
<p>what i ment to say is IB makes a huge difference, to colleges then someone else who only take regular classes.
loading up on AP’s is the same as going to IB, that i agree</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters much. Our valedictorian from last year (Class of 2011) has an IB diploma, was very well-qualified (All-State Band, National awards, and everything). He got rejected from Harvard, but got in at UPenn. BUT there were a few below him in the top 1% who only did AP’s and got into Harvard, so…take from that what you will.</p>
<p>@pch340 I don’t think you can really be “expected” to participate. At our school, IB kids are practically required to take the AP exams for their respective IB courses as well. It can get kind of expensive paying for all those exams, so not everyone can do it. Also, some people just prefer the breadth of AP courses as opposed to the depth of IB.</p>
<p>Honestly, based on the admissions statistics for our school, it doesn’t seem to reflect badly on you if you take the AP route at a school that offers IB.</p>
<p>edit: Spelling error</p>
<p>My son is a rising senior, taking IB. In our research and college visits, the message is that students should take the most rigorous curriculum available to them. So if IB is available and that is what you do, you are pursuing the most rigorous curriculum. Same goes for AP, if that is what available at your school.</p>
<p>As a senior applying to schools, you won’t know whether you will get high enough scores on tests in spring of senior year to get the diploma. However, you will have the experience of managing the demands of the full diploma curriculum, with all the community service requirements, TOK class etc, and that will be impressive. In addition, the experience might be the basis for some of essays, interviews etc. But if you go certificate route for a reason – that you are taking different math or science, for example, as a possible pre-med student, then that is also impressive. Our understanding is that, if you can articulate why, or why not, you are doing full diploma, you are in good shape.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Colleges love the IB.</p>