I am considering taking the international baccalaureate program at my school. How do top end/ivy league colleges view the IB program? Does completing the IB program give me any competitive advantage against the many people taking AP?
Many thanks,
Avi
<p>Actually no!
Ivies and other such universities want students who have taken the most demanding courses, IB or not. The only advantage will be college credit if you get 6 or 7s on certain exams. But if you have a choise between APs and IB take the latter!!
Hope that was useful!!</p>
<p>I'm also taking the IB program this up coming year. I would say that AP classes and IB classes are pretty much the same in the eyes of top tier colleges. Are you taking the full program or selected courses?</p>
<p>i am doing the full program. What i am worried about is that there is not too much selection in the IB program...most people in IB take pretty much the exact same classes.</p>
<p>i think the whole IB program is seen as something really good, but if you take tons of APs then I guess it equals. sometimes you can get scholarships for completing the IB diploma though</p>
<p>If you're well rounded go for IB. You have to basically be able to do all the core subjects plus a foreign language at high levels. If your school pays for the tests you should be able to do the IB program and take all the corresponding APs too. I think IB really helps hone your writing skills by eliminating a lot of multiple choice on tests and with the extended essay. You have to really be into it though; of the 100+ people in our entering class only 45 have survived. </p>
<p>PS if you're looking at any colleges overseas do IB</p>
<p>If IB is at a different school (as where I live, they are generally in the worse schools to help make them better) than the school where u would like to take just AP's, then it might help to do it, because it may be easier for you to rank higher, depending on how well you do in school. Also, in IB, you are almost equally prepared (with a little bit of extra reading for AP in most cases) for BOTH IB and AP exams, which you can add to your college app if you get 5's and 6's-7's. In terms of an advantage, IB students do have significantly higher acceptance rates (like 66% at Wash. U in St. Louis) compared to the regular acceptance rates, but only at specific schools. At HYPS, the advantage is very slim in terms of percentages. I don't know about your school district, but at mine, the workload of AP is considered a joke compared to IB. Even pre-IB classes in World History at my school involve more assignments and work than the AP class, although both of us take the test. I would recommend to do it, unless you would have to wake up before like 5:30 or something to go to the IB school, and especially do it if it is at your zoned school.</p>
<p>Can you get scholarships for completing the IB program? If that's the case, I would be very interested to know those scholarships, as I have lately completed the IB full diploma.</p>
<p>KAZtro62 What classes did you take SL and HL just out of curiousity?</p>
<p>Standard levels in psychology, french</p>
<p>Higher levels in Math, biology, and english (or history)</p>
<p>I am working in 2 ap classes in addition to the ibs too in 11th and I am taking all possible APs for the corresponding courses. THis should make up for the few number of SLs.</p>
<p>i don't know how many scholarships there are but i was at the university of rochester's web site and i saw they had a scholarship, though that's the only school i've seen with one so far, so it's probably on a school by school basis</p>
<p>I took the following subjects:</p>
<p>HL Math
HL Physcis
HL Chemistry</p>
<p>SL English A1
SL German B1
SL World Politics</p>
<p>+EE, TOK of course</p>
<p>I managed to get 43 points overall.</p>
<p>It sucks because it's harder than APs, but it's much easier to get college credits with AP grades.</p>
<p>HL:
English
Math
History
Latin</p>
<p>SL:
Enviro (got a 6)
Physics (our school doesn't offer HL :( )</p>
<p>I think IB is harder and better than AP, but colleges don't give it as much recognition as it deserves. Esp the whole idea of not even considering SL for credits is ridiculous. IB makes you more well-rounded, and gives a truly international perspective.</p>
<p>IB is better for learning, for college credit...DEF AP.</p>
<p>However, some college applications SPECIFICALLY ask "are you an IB Diploma candidate".</p>
<p>43 points WOW
Ive only taken one of my IB's I got a 6 on Geography SL</p>
<p>This year though
HL
French
English (Maybe Spanish)
History</p>
<p>SL
Geography
Chemistry (Would have had to take another semester course which woudlnt fit becuase of double language)
Mathematics (Thank god on the transcript says Calculus IB sounds kinda weird that way)
Spanish</p>
<p>And yes thats 7, stupid IB coordinator "you cant use a second language as a 6th subject" </p>
<p>Im hoping for 30 something</p>
<p>And I think IB is harder becuase if you have a weak subject you have to really try hard. A lot of people at our schol either take a bunch of science and math aps or english and history aps but few take all unless they are in IB too.</p>
<p>There are no schools around here that offer IB..how exactly does it work? What are HL and SL?</p>
<p>The IB program was designed in... Switzerland I think? so that children of diplomats could have a standard education no matter where their family moved to. There're actually programs for elementary/middle school too, but what the OP is talking about is the Diploma Program, which takes place in the junior/senior year of HS (though many schools offer "pre-IB" programs to prepare freshman/sophomores). Anyway, in the Diploma Program itself, you take and test out in 6 subjects (your home country's language, a foreign language, math, science, social science, and an art -- but art can be replaced by, say, another science). Three or four of those subjects are Higher Level -- two-year classes with more assessments (both internal, meaning graded by your teacher, and external, meaning sent off to some foreign country or some such) -- and the other two or three are Standard Level. You also take Theory of Knowledge (epistemology-lite), do an Extended Essay (4000 words on a topic more-or-less of your choice), and complete the 150-hour CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) requirement.</p>
<p>As for whether or not you should do it [in terms of college admissions], I'd say do it if it's the toughest curriculum available and don't if it's not. For example, I could've gone to a nice, recently-built HS that's right near my house, but instead I went across town to a 100+-year-old portable-ridden HS...with an IB program. My Princeton interviewer specifically asked me why I was doing that and was impressed by the answer. So if it's a better education, do it, and colleges will look favorably on it; if you want to do it for personal development, do it, and colleges will like that (my Harvard interviewer and I had a very nice discussion on the topic of my Extended Essay, for example). But it's what you DO with the IB Program, not the simple fact of being in it, that'll help you get into college.</p>
<p>This is true. Plenty of IB people get rejected by colleges. Do well in IB and you'll be fine.</p>