Hello, I’m currently a junior and this is the first year my school is offering the IB program. Last year I signed up for it but then backed out because I read that colleges don’t really give you as much credit for IB classes as they do for AP.
Today was the first day of school and, for some reason, they didn’t take me out of the program and i’m currently enrolled in it. My classes are: english hl, spanish hl, chemistry hl, pysics sl, math studies (only ib math available), and APush. My physics teacher told us that the ib physics sl is the same as ap physics 1 and encouraged us to take the ap physics exam, if that is true, why don’t colleges give credit for it? Anyway, if I were to get out of the program I will take: ap lit, ap physics, reg chemistry, apush, precal, and english 9 (im a foreign student and need the credits).
I want to be pre med, and I’d like to go to a school with a good pre med program but i’m confused as to what would look better in my college application (AP or IB)? Would getting the ib diploma look good even if my gpa/grades aren’t as better as if i’d taken the ap’s? Thank you in advance.
I am a parent and my son got his IB diploma outside US. AP and IBDP are different curriculum. IBDP emphasises a lot on reading, critical thinking, analysis and writing up essays and thesis. IBDP is considered the most rigorous curriculum by most universities in the world. I don’t know the reason of students taking random IB subjects to replace AP subjects. For my son and his classmates, taking 3 HL subjects,3 SL subjects, TOK, EE and fulfilling the CAS hours are the normal path to obtain the IBDP.
One note on math studies: in my son’s school, only students who can’t handle math choose Math studies. Those students usually take double Art subjects such as musics, theatre, visual arts and are planning to go to Art school or Film school. If you are capable to doing math, don’t waste time on math studies.
For students who want to study engineering, philosophy and Law taking HL math get a better chance in admission.
I think when people say that AP is better than IB what they might mean is that if you only take a few IB classes the AP might be better because the AP is better known in the US. However, what I’ve read is that if you can take the full IB program including an IB diploma it is better than taking a similar number of AP courses. Read “A is for Admission” to find how colleges like Dartmouth consider AP vs IB. The very top colleges know all about the IB curriculum and outside the US the IB is very popular in many countries. So, given your circumstances I’d recommend sticking with the IB program you are in right now. Many colleges will do advanced placement for IB tests just like AP tests
@anaesabc What you’re saying is, staying in IB math studies class will look bad? the class IS easy for me. i’m in a more precal level but the teacher told us this class would prepare us to take ap calculus next year, and i can’t drop it. Because it is a new program, there’d be no other ib classes to take instead.
I am not familiar with the US system. For IBDP, students stick to Math studies for two years to get the diploma. If you can do something more challenging in your junior year, why not choose something other than Math Studies. When you apply college in your senior year, you will use your junior transcript with Math Studies on it and everyone knows Math Studies is not challenging.
By IBDP, I mean the full diploma not individual subjects. Just a bit more on Math, a student who get a 4 in SL Math may get a 7 in Math studies. Math Studies is extremely useful to boost up the overall IB score if your intended major requires no special math skills such as music and fine art. A minimum overall IB score may be required for some schools and in that case taking Math studies will help one to get a higher score. BUT not for science majors.
I am going for the ibdp at least I was planning to, but now that you say that I’m not so sure anymore. Can colleges see that my school didn’t offer any other math class for IB students and hence not be so strict about it? If taking math studies will ruin my chances of getting into a good premed school then, what would be the point of doing IB at all? I think my school will let me take ap calculus senior year, would that make up for it?
In general, colleges want to see students taking the most challenging courses schools provided. A good IB school should provide good choices for students. SL and HL Math are standard math courses for the IB program. Some schools even offer Further Math. If your math choice is restricted to Math Studies only, you have to think twice. I would suggest you to talk to your guidance counsellor. Do you mean you are going to study both math studies and AP calculus in your senior year? You only take 5 IB subjects this year and IBDP requires you to take 6 subjects, you need to take one humanities subject. In IBDP, each subject is expected to be completed in 2 years, I don’t understand how you switch from math studies to AP and still complete the requirement for IBDP.
@anaesabc Yes, my bad. I forgot IB math studies is a 2-year course, I’m not switching to AP Calculus. Yeah I guess I’ll talk to my counselor about it. I think it’s strange that they don’t offer math sl if it is going to affect a student like that. And about taking 5 IB subjects, my school said it was okay to take APUSH, we’d still get the diploma. If I were unable to get math sl, would you recommend I get out of the program then?
You better check with your counsellor whether you are going to get a IB diploma or IB certificate. I might be wrong but t AP USH and IB humanities are two different things, how could you get the IB diploma by taking a AP subject? If you want to pursue premed/science, I think taking Math studies is not a wise choice.
IB program is regarded as a rigorous program but it also depends on the subjects you take . For Math, it is an easy way out to take math studies, admission officer knows a 7 in math studies is not equal to a 7 in SL math. A 7 in SL Math is not equal to a 7 in HL Math! For languages, A is different from B. Language B is regarded as a foreign language. Students usually take one Lang A (mostly English if applying US colleges) and one Lang B. However if a Chinese student takes Chinese as Lang B, the admission automatically thinks this student is taking the easy course because Chinese language is regarded as native language in ethnic Chinese! That is why some Chinese students take Chinese as Lang A and get the Bilingual Diploma( 2 Language A courses). I hope you understand what you choose is very important and the admission officers know it well.
@anaesabc What about if I take a more rigorous math course at the community college? For example Calculus. Do you think that would make up for me taking math studies? Thanks a lot for your advice by the way.
I can’t give you advice on math course at the community college. I live outside US and am not familiar with the US system. I know IB curriculum quite well because my son got his IBDP outside US. IB is very demanding and the IAs, IOP , EE and TOK are very time consuming. I have no idea how you could find extra time to do other courses. My son and his classmates used to work very late in order to catch all those deadlines for their IB assignments. However, I am no expert in US system, my suggestion is to have a serious conversation with your guidance counsellor. Just give you a general picture of what students take in my son’s IB school: Medical school applicants: HL bio, HL Chem, SL Math, SL English, SL Chinese B ,HL Econ. Engineering applicants: HL Math HL Physics HL Chem SL English SL Chinese B SL Econ/Geo
Art school applicants: HL English, HL visual arts ,HL music, SL Environmental Science, SL Chinese, Math studies.
Okay so basically, as an IB senior I would say AP DOES give a bit more credit than IB, but not too much. Honestly, what looks best to an admissions counselor is that in your school, you took the MOST rigorous courses offered at your school, whether it may be AP, IB, or dual enrollment. I am looking to go into pre-med as well, and I know that colleges will take into consideration that IB is more rigorous than AP. Everyone knows it is, no matter whether you’re in IB or not. You should be able to take these hard classes, do fairly well in them, and be well rounded. Your IB classes look great. Don’t worry about your math, doing IB math looks better than a regular math, plus you said you’ll take AP Calculus next year which is good (it is what I did). Like people mentioned before it depends on what classes you take in IB, but in your case you have hard IB classes so I think you should definitely stick with it. Remember, you shouldn’t worry about getting credit in college, regardless of where you are from. Chances are, once you get into college and especially for pre-med, the college will require you to take that same class at that specific university again. Medical Schools prefer you do that as well, rather than being exempted from it through AP classes. But regardless of credit, what matters more is genuinely learning more about subject areas with advanced classes. If your main goal is to get more credits, I’d say don’t go for IB. Because in IB, you not only get college credits, but you become a well-rounded person. Not only are you learning about the subject area, but through higher and standard level classes, you are learning to apply your knowledge to real-life situations, through Extended Essays, Internal Assessments, CAS, etc. People think doing these extra items and classes such TOK are stupid, but from this we learn how to look at things from multiple perspectives with a wider range of ideas. IB also helps you in preparing you for college. If you are asked to write a lab research paper or a 3 page essay in college, you are already used to writing many of these types of papers because of IB! So if you truly want to learn about subjects and feel more prepared for college, I strongly believe IB is definitely worth the work. Yes, IB is ALOT of work, but if you have proper time management and make sure you stay on top of things, and do extra curriculars, you can basically run the world. It is solely your decision, though. If you have any more questions feel free to message me
