<p>My D just found out she received the IB diploma, and did it with flying colors! She's thrilled, as are her parents.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we just looked to see how much credit she could claim at W&M, and she was disappointed to see she could only get 3 credits. I did a little research to see what she would receive at some other VA state schools (based on her specific scores), and here's what we came up with:</p>
<p>W&M -- 3 credits
UVA -- 6 credits
University of Mary Washington -- 12 credits
VCU -- 22 credits
VT -- 24 credits</p>
<p>Given that W&M appears so enthusiastic about the IB diploma, isn't there a disconnect here?</p>
<p>For example, I found that W&M Admission said the following recently:</p>
<p>"We think the IB program is a great way for students to prepare themselves for the college environment. The extended essay, two-year courses and research mesh well with liberal arts curricula such as those at W&M that emphasize research, in-depth learning and learning in breadth across disciplines."</p>
<p>Question: wouldn't it make sense for W&M to reconsider its IB credit award policy? Basically, W&M currently requires a 6 or 7 on a HL subject to receive any credit whatsoever. If you have a good overall score but get all 5s on your HL subjects, you are out of luck. No credit whatsoever is given by W&M for SL marks -- even if you got all 7s (the top score possible).</p>
<p>Theoretically, a student could get 39 IB total points (out of a possible 45), enough to get into Oxford or Cambridge, but only receive 3 credits at W&M.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that SL classes are kind of like honors classes while HL are like AP. I’ve never taken IB so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s what my IB friends have told me. Maybe schools like UVA and WM see IB 6/7 as being equivalent to 4/5 on AP and 5IB = 3AP?</p>
<p>Whatever the reason is, I’m sure WM has a good reason for making it like that.</p>
<p>Actually, I think the policy needs to be reviewed. For example, to get a 6 or 7 in IB History (HL), you would need to be in the top 14% of all IB students taking that course (according to the most recent official IB Organization data). Is it really as hard as that to get AP credit at W&M? I don’t know the answer, by the way, since I haven’t looked up the AP testing data. But I’d be surprised.</p>
<p>The policy does need to be reviewed. It is a joke, plain and simple. The IB Diploma is the most challenging curriculum that can be taken by a high school student.</p>
<p>IB SL classes are not like AP classes. The IB exams are harder. IB classes are much more involved and have more assessments. People “self study” and pass AP exams all the time. That is not possible with IB.</p>
<p>I took the AP government test and scored high enough to get credit at W&M. I took the AP test 2 years after I took preIB government. So, my [non IB] government class, two years prior, was enough for me to get my college credits. I think this shows that SL IB classes are not “below” AP.</p>
<p>Furthermore, IB tests are curved, and AP tests are based on raw score. 50% of AP Calc BC test takers score a 5 (source: <a href=“AP Calculus BC – AP Students | College Board”>AP Calculus BC – AP Students | College Board; ). Only like 5% of IB test takers score a 7 on any test.</p>
<p>I’m sure W&M Admissions will respond to tell you that the credit policy is set by the individual departments.</p>
<p>Actually our credit policy is set by a myriad of different people/groups/departments on campus and certainly it is examined every year. We are certainly aware that IB students may find that lack of credit of IB SL exams frustrating. Our guess is however they appreciate the plus factor the IB diploma provides for admission purposes and in the end we’re guessing admission is more desired than transfer credit. That is not to say that we do not understand your frustration.</p>
<p>We are not overly lenient with AP credit either. While we accept all 5s, there are 4s that are not excepted and there are only 2 exams for which a score of 3 is accepted so yes, while the AP credit policy is more favorable it’s not super easy to credit for APs either.</p>
<p>WM is very conservative with IB credit, but there are a lot of complicating factors for IB.</p>
<p>Some IB SL classes are jokes. SL Math is about as difficult as Algebra II. Some IB SL classes (especially language classes) are more rigorous than the equivalent AP. </p>
<p>IB scores differ from AP scores in that they are not solely determined by test performance. I did extremely well on the HL Chemistry exam, but because I failed all the internal assessments I only scored a 5, which gave me 4 credits of gen chem. I had learned everything taught in a full year of gen chem and most of a semester of orgo. Someone else could put a lot of effort into the internal assessments and get a good score without having a good command of the material.</p>
<p>Some IB classes are just structured so differently from US college courses that it’s hard to figure out what they should get credit for. HL Math touches on linear algebra, calculus, statistics, ODEs, etc. but would be a poor substitute for any of those courses.</p>
<p>Anyway, there are worse problems than having to take classes you’re already well prepared for. It can make freshman year less stressful. Getting out of GERs could be convenient, but letting people substitute high school classes for requirements so is sort of contrary to the spirit of the system anyway.</p>
<p>I hear what you are saying about “complicating” factors due to the unique nature of IB. For most subjects, however, at least 70% of the final mark is based on the exams.</p>
<p>My sense is that W&M is being overly-restrictive in awarding credits compared to both AP and how other schools treat IB (including other VA state schools). So perhaps a score of 5 in an IB HL subject should get some credit, for example, particularly when a smaller percentage of students achieve that score or higher than a 5 on an AP exam (which gets credit).</p>
<p>What matters most, of course, is that there is zero doubt in my mind that the IB Diploma program is the best learning and preparatory experience available for high school students. It’s really well-designed, rigorous, fair and well-rounded. It’s been phenomenal for my D. Yes, there are certainly a few issues with how individual schools and teachers implement the program. But the IB Diploma is top-notch. Others will have different perspectives, viva la difference. </p>
<p>Regardless of # of college credits awarded, the IB diploma route was a great choice by my D. Anyone who is awarded the IB Diploma should feel a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.</p>
<p>there are three levels of IB Math… sounds like Malvenuto is referencing the lowest level, Math Studies. I agree no credit should be given for Math Studies (except maybe for “Math of Powered Flight”)</p>
<p>We certainly hear your concerns tribeparent and every year W&M examines its policies related to credit transfer (not just for AP and IB but also for college credit and international programs). We know that no matter what policies we have we will likely not satisfy every student. In the end, the basis for most of our credit transfer is whether or not we feel we have a comparable class offered at W&M. When we don’t, we don’t offer credit transfer. </p>
<p>Be assured this is not the first time we’ve heard such a concern about our IB credit policy (internally and externally) and it is something we continue to examine.</p>