<p>Hey ~ lots of people have commented on how the IB tests look in terms of what sort of workload you've had in high school, but nobody really answered the part of mlyles89's question about whether or not yale gives credit for them...</p>
<p>the deal with Yale and APs/IBs is that you can't actually get credit for the classes unless you're using them to skip out of one or two semesters of college. normally, 36 course credits are required to graduate from yale (at least 3 in each of four distribution groups), which are taken over 8 semesters. IF you want to graduate in 7 or 6 semesters instead, you can take only 32 or 27 courses at yale (respectively) and get the remaining 4 or 9 credits off your AP or IB exams. if you plan on graduating in the regular 8 semesters, though, you still have to take 36 course credits AT YALE and the AP/IB courses only help you by letting you place into higher-level courses instead of intro courses. regardless, you still have to fulfill the distribution requirements (i think).</p>
<p>hope that helps ~ i know it confused me when i was applying :-P</p>
<p>If you don't accelerate, APs and IBs don't give you "credit" like most schools do, but they may let you place out of pre-req or intro courses. Ultimately, professors decide who to let into their classes, so they can be used as a bargaining tool.</p>
<p>i'm a senior doing full ib... but i have to say i do regret doing it. it's mostly just a pain in the ass and it really didn't teach me much else than to procrastinate... but meh. maybe it helped, maybe it didn't. i think if you can, take the classes, but don't test. colleges often forget that being in full ib means so, so, so much more than just simply taking hard classes (external/internal assessment, research papers, CAS hours, extended esay, tok essay, the ib tests themselves, oral exams, blah blah blah), so if you take just the hard classes and skip all of that work, some colleges might think you're still doing the hardest possible coursework your school can offer. i have friends who did that, and they did just as well (in the college admissions game) as the people going after the full diploma. haha, kind of sucks...</p>
<p>maybe it's just how ib is handled at my school. or maybe it's that i did too many extra-curriculars with ib, and it made my senior year a hellish whirl of constant work, work, work, so i'm just bitter at my dashed dreams of a relaxed second semester :P well, i'm out in (exactly) two months anyway, so if i jump through the last few hoops, i've got summer. when i'll get a job, but AT LEAST THERE WON'T BE HOMEWORK :D haha, sob, oh ib...</p>
<p>Colleges say that they want students to take the hardest courseload available at school, but how do they know? How do they know what a school offers? Do you put that on the application or something? (I haven't applied, I am not a senior)</p>
<p>I'm doing the IB - it's huge at our school (75%ish of my grade does the full thing). In terms of recognition, colleges, i've heard, love it (probably because it's in French and they can't spell it right.) But for placement or credit, I'm not too sure. If you can, you should take a couple of AP exams on the side - it can't hurt. The Calc AB and English fit right in the the IB curriculum, and colleges are more likely to give you placement based on AP scores.</p>
<p>plus, it is often required on the counselor's report that the number of honors/AP/IB courses offered is notated, and the extent of your completion fo such courses...in other words...they WILL find out...lol ;)</p>
<p>I do the IB, it's basically the only choice we have because the AP isn't as highly regarded here as the IB is. But colleges love it. My brother got a 43/45 on his Diploma and he got into Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown and at Princeton he didn't have to take several 100- classes.</p>
<p>My D did the IB diploma - 42/45 - rejected at Yale/Harvard but got into every other college she applied to. Yale was her first choice :( so she was very disappointed and felt that she didn't get any bonus from Y or H for taking the hardest courseload - she graduated #3 (#5 out of all the seniors in our city - ~6,000 kids). She won 2 state championships (not a team one either). The mystery is why she didn't get in - we kind of figured it was her guidance counselor who was old and senile and couldn't remember her name! He probably wrote the wrong rec - remember Orange County the movie? LOL
Anyway, she is doing great at the school she chose and will graduate in 3 years instead of 4. The dean tried to talk her out of graduating early so she could explore other classes but at $43K a year we wanted her out of there asap. Her goal is Yale Law School! Hopefully she will get it this time!</p>
<p>Doing the IB Diploma program at my school has certainly been an experience. I'm only a junior (ALMOST halfway through..), but I have two exams in the next month (World Religions and Math Studies). Coming from a very small private school, we only have 14 juniors in the full program.. luckily, this allows for great discussions in TOK, my favorite class.</p>
<p>IB is weighted a full point higher than honors in terms of GPA, so if you do well in the program, you're pretty much set in terms of class rank. I do believe that I am in the top three of my class, which seemed impossible freshmen year.. but it's come at the price of a lack of sleep and also witnessing other friends have huge meltdowns because of the stress. However, the intensity will depend on your school, and the quality of teachers especially..</p>