WL IB vs McLean HS is it really just demographics

[Anonymous]

Can anyone speak to Aps WL IB vs McLean High School? We have an all A student coming from a Loudoun middle school, and we are moving close in because of work. We are looking at two neighborhoods zone for WL or McLean. My spouse likes the IB program and things it’s even better than the AP focused McLean path. I’m a little worried about the size of WL and the low GS scores (which I admit are probably from demographics, but hard to puzzle out college readiness and acceptance only by a program at a high school vs a whole high school).

Is WL IB have the same academics as Mclean? The whole AAP thing seems to set FCPS as a place that really emphasizes differentiation. Does that continue in high school; so you have to meet certain benchmarks to be on AP at McLean? One of my concerns is the WL IB accepts any student who wants to take it, rather than having a qualifying exam or something, and even more so in their AP courses they encourage all students to take AP so they can claim “X amount graduate with AP credit”.

Anyone move from one to the other?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone speak to Aps WL IB vs McLean High School? We have an all A student coming from a Loudoun middle school, and we are moving close in because of work. We are looking at two neighborhoods zone for WL or McLean. My spouse likes the IB program and things it’s even better than the AP focused McLean path. I’m a little worried about the size of WL and the low GS scores (which I admit are probably from demographics, but hard to puzzle out college readiness and acceptance only by a program at a high school vs a whole high school).

Is WL IB have the same academics as Mclean? The whole AAP thing seems to set FCPS as a place that really emphasizes differentiation. Does that continue in high school; so you have to meet certain benchmarks to be on AP at McLean? One of my concerns is the WL IB accepts any student who wants to take it, rather than having a qualifying exam or something, and even more so in their AP courses they encourage all students to take AP so they can claim “X amount graduate with AP credit”.

Anyone move from one to the other?

FCPS is open enrollment for AP and honors and the AAP classes go away in HS. Because of the demographics of McLean, a majority of kids are college bound and taking an AP course. They don't need to pad their numbers by recommending kids take AP that can't handle AP.

[Anonymous]

Only about 100 IB grads at W-L each year who do the full program. W-L has both IB and AP. It’s a bigger and more diverse school and certainly well regarded. It’s more of an urban school where Mclean is very suburban and has a larger attendance zone too. W-L has a more down to earth atmosphere because of the population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only about 100 IB grads at W-L each year who do the full program. W-L has both IB and AP. It’s a bigger and more diverse school and certainly well regarded. It’s more of an urban school where Mclean is very suburban and has a larger attendance zone too. W-L has a more down to earth atmosphere because of the population.

What does "down to earth" mean? Do the IB classes operate like a school within a school, where the more motivated IB students have mostly classes together?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only about 100 IB grads at W-L each year who do the full program. W-L has both IB and AP. It’s a bigger and more diverse school and certainly well regarded. It’s more of an urban school where Mclean is very suburban and has a larger attendance zone too. W-L has a more down to earth atmosphere because of the population.

What does "down to earth" mean? Do the IB classes operate like a school within a school, where the more motivated IB students have mostly classes together?

Code for more poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only about 100 IB grads at W-L each year who do the full program. W-L has both IB and AP. It’s a bigger and more diverse school and certainly well regarded. It’s more of an urban school where Mclean is very suburban and has a larger attendance zone too. W-L has a more down to earth atmosphere because of the population.

What does "down to earth" mean? Do the IB classes operate like a school within a school, where the more motivated IB students have mostly classes together?

There are kids who take IB classes who dont do the full diploma, so those 100 kids don't travel alone together…so no, not a school within a school. Like any other school, the kids who are in a significant number of APs or IBs end up travelling together to some extent because there are only so many sections of each course, especially the HL IBs.

[Anonymous]

Marshall also has IB

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in IB in FCPS, South Lakes, Robinson, and Marshall have the three IB programs that most people seem to agree at well run and have a higher number of kids completing the full diploma. I know there are a large number of kids taking IB classes that don’t complete the full program. I don’t know how they compare in size to WL but parents of kids in the program and at those schools seem to be happy with the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only about 100 IB grads at W-L each year who do the full program. W-L has both IB and AP. It’s a bigger and more diverse school and certainly well regarded. It’s more of an urban school where Mclean is very suburban and has a larger attendance zone too. W-L has a more down to earth atmosphere because of the population.

WL is not urban. Central Arlington is very suburban.

[Anonymous]

WL IB does not accept anyone that wants to take it. You have to be accepted into the program. Quite a large percentage of students in 11/12 take partial IB. They take IB in 4 or so classes and then take AP classes or Dual Enrollment classes to fill out their schedule. Not to burst your bubble, but an all A student at W-L is quite common.

[Anonymous]

Teachers have to recommend you for IB classes - broken down by level usually - HL and SL. Recommendations are necessary for AP too.

[Anonymous]

More poors

[Anonymous]

The W-L campus is very small but APS plans to expand W-L by 600 seats by taking over a nearby building on Quincy.

McLean is overcrowded but has a larger campus and feels more suburban. It’s still fairly close to several Metro stations.

Your kid can be equally challenged taking AP courses at McLean or IB courses at W-L. McLean overall has a higher academic profile but that’s just the local demographics. McLean has two or three times as many Asian kids as W-L.

Housing at a reasonable price can be hard to find in both areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have to recommend you for IB classes - broken down by level usually - HL and SL. Recommendations are necessary for AP too.

The counselors have said you just sign up for IB, the teachers can recommend but that is not a requirement. Can someone confirm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone speak to Aps WL IB vs McLean High School? We have an all A student coming from a Loudoun middle school, and we are moving close in because of work. We are looking at two neighborhoods zone for WL or McLean. My spouse likes the IB program and things it’s even better than the AP focused McLean path. I’m a little worried about the size of WL and the low GS scores (which I admit are probably from demographics, but hard to puzzle out college readiness and acceptance only by a program at a high school vs a whole high school).

Is WL IB have the same academics as Mclean? The whole AAP thing seems to set FCPS as a place that really emphasizes differentiation. Does that continue in high school; so you have to meet certain benchmarks to be on AP at McLean? One of my concerns is the WL IB accepts any student who wants to take it, rather than having a qualifying exam or something, and even more so in their AP courses they encourage all students to take AP so they can claim “X amount graduate with AP credit”.

Anyone move from one to the other?

There is literally nothing to worry about vis-a-vis college "readiness" for an all-A kid with two educated wealthy parents (who can afford to look at housing in W-L or McLean zones) from either of these schools, what you are talking about regarding IB and AP and who they let take these classes is irrelevant. Either admit what you are really looking at school demographics or just pick one of the schools.