Possible to switch from AP to IB program after freshman year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for posting information about the IB program.

I have a question about the IB diploma vs no-diploma as it was mentioned earlier. Let's say a student who is good, takes IB courses including some HL and does not go for diploma. For the discussion sake, let's say this 'good' student has > 4.0 weighted GPA with A's and B's, more than three IB HL/SL courses, SAT low 1500's or ACT 34 and similar level extracurricular activities.
Is there is drawback when not doing full IB diploma in such cases? Does it impact college admissions? Do colleges look down at students who opted to take additional Honors/SL/HL courses but did not go for the diploma?

Please not make this thread another IB bashing. I am just asking questions related to IB.

Colleges look down at students at IB schools who are not pursuing the full diploma. It is just too easy a way for busy admissions officers to put kids in a "no" pile.

My junior ds is doing the full IB diploma and his younger brother likely won't. We have been touring colleges and have asked this question of several admissions officers, including at one Ivy. The answer was resoundingly opposite of what you say. They do not view a student who takes a handful of IB classes differently than they would a student who takes a handful of AP classes. One admissions official told me specifically that they "hold the IB diploma in high regard." Another told me that they consider an IB diploma student to be the equivalent of a full AP course load for two years. The only one who had little regard for IB was JMU, who didn't even mention IB in their presentation, but only talked about AP and dual enrollment. Luckily for us, ds had zero interest in the school anyway.

Admissions offers can be good at telling people what they want to hear. It can translate into application fees.

Even so, non-IB diploma candidates at IB schools are at a disadvantage, and full IB diploma candidates have no advantage over kids who've taken a lot of AP courses. That's just the way it is. If it were different, Whitman and Langley would have IB.

I had two DS's in an IB school; one diploma the other taking some of the courses. Both got into the school of their choice, and had peers from TJ, and other AP schools. All had similar GPA's and SATs, thus there seemed to be no difference between AP vs IB courses vs IB diploma. The true issue, is not taking any AP or any IB if they are offered in your HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for posting information about the IB program.

I have a question about the IB diploma vs no-diploma as it was mentioned earlier. Let's say a student who is good, takes IB courses including some HL and does not go for diploma. For the discussion sake, let's say this 'good' student has > 4.0 weighted GPA with A's and B's, more than three IB HL/SL courses, SAT low 1500's or ACT 34 and similar level extracurricular activities.
Is there is drawback when not doing full IB diploma in such cases? Does it impact college admissions? Do colleges look down at students who opted to take additional Honors/SL/HL courses but did not go for the diploma?

Please not make this thread another IB bashing. I am just asking questions related to IB.

Colleges look down at students at IB schools who are not pursuing the full diploma. It is just too easy a way for busy admissions officers to put kids in a "no" pile.

My junior ds is doing the full IB diploma and his younger brother likely won't. We have been touring colleges and have asked this question of several admissions officers, including at one Ivy. The answer was resoundingly opposite of what you say. They do not view a student who takes a handful of IB classes differently than they would a student who takes a handful of AP classes. One admissions official told me specifically that they "hold the IB diploma in high regard." Another told me that they consider an IB diploma student to be the equivalent of a full AP course load for two years. The only one who had little regard for IB was JMU, who didn't even mention IB in their presentation, but only talked about AP and dual enrollment. Luckily for us, ds had zero interest in the school anyway.

Admissions offers can be good at telling people what they want to hear. It can translate into application fees.

Even so, non-IB diploma candidates at IB schools are at a disadvantage, and full IB diploma candidates have no advantage over kids who've taken a lot of AP courses. That's just the way it is. If it were different, Whitman and Langley would have IB.

Oh. It's you. Do you want to go ahead and post about the unfair cost of IB to the county and how the Woodson parents banded together to keep AP at the school so we can ignore it and continue on with our rational conversations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the IB diploma also requires achieving Level 5 competency in a language - which generally means at least 4 years of language and this is a big hurdle for many students.

it's a bit surprising that an IB student would find UVA to be a "breeze": most IB students are keen to challenge themselves and it's pretty common to find that they work very hard at their studies, and (2) that they would not pursue the same rigor in their studies in college. We hear, and have personal experience, that IB students are well prepared for college level work. That said, those we know are taking challenging courses and not "breezing" through their studies at the Naval Academy, Princeton, Chicago and Columbia.

PP whose kid is at UVA and finds the coursework easy. I honestly don't know how much rigor my son is pursuing. He wants to attend law school, so he's basically been focusing on getting as high a GPA as possible and as high LSAT score as possible while doing the things he wants to do socially. He sort of thinks college as an experience was a breather for him. His grades are stellar and he's in a decent program (economics).

[Anonymous]

What happened at Woodson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened at Woodson?

Many years ago, FCPS had planned to place the IB program at Woodson, and the parents didn't want it. The school remained AP. Not really a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for posting information about the IB program.

I have a question about the IB diploma vs no-diploma as it was mentioned earlier. Let's say a student who is good, takes IB courses including some HL and does not go for diploma. For the discussion sake, let's say this 'good' student has > 4.0 weighted GPA with A's and B's, more than three IB HL/SL courses, SAT low 1500's or ACT 34 and similar level extracurricular activities.
Is there is drawback when not doing full IB diploma in such cases? Does it impact college admissions? Do colleges look down at students who opted to take additional Honors/SL/HL courses but did not go for the diploma?

Please not make this thread another IB bashing. I am just asking questions related to IB.

Colleges look down at students at IB schools who are not pursuing the full diploma. It is just too easy a way for busy admissions officers to put kids in a "no" pile.

My junior ds is doing the full IB diploma and his younger brother likely won't. We have been touring colleges and have asked this question of several admissions officers, including at one Ivy. The answer was resoundingly opposite of what you say. They do not view a student who takes a handful of IB classes differently than they would a student who takes a handful of AP classes.

Are you talking about the same thing? It didn't sound like the question was "Should my kid take a few IB classes or a few AP classes?" The question was "Do colleges look differently at an applicant who takes a few IB classes than one who does the full diploma?" And the answer is yes.

But presumably a student who doesn't go for the diploma has reasons, and if they're good ones, parents shouldn't insist. It's a lot of work -- some say busywork, although that has not been my kid's experience -- and it's not the only way to end up at the right college. Push yourself but don't torture yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for posting information about the IB program.

I have a question about the IB diploma vs no-diploma as it was mentioned earlier. Let's say a student who is good, takes IB courses including some HL and does not go for diploma. For the discussion sake, let's say this 'good' student has > 4.0 weighted GPA with A's and B's, more than three IB HL/SL courses, SAT low 1500's or ACT 34 and similar level extracurricular activities.
Is there is drawback when not doing full IB diploma in such cases? Does it impact college admissions? Do colleges look down at students who opted to take additional Honors/SL/HL courses but did not go for the diploma?

Please not make this thread another IB bashing. I am just asking questions related to IB.

Colleges look down at students at IB schools who are not pursuing the full diploma. It is just too easy a way for busy admissions officers to put kids in a "no" pile.

My junior ds is doing the full IB diploma and his younger brother likely won't. We have been touring colleges and have asked this question of several admissions officers, including at one Ivy. The answer was resoundingly opposite of what you say. They do not view a student who takes a handful of IB classes differently than they would a student who takes a handful of AP classes.

Are you talking about the same thing? It didn't sound like the question was "Should my kid take a few IB classes or a few AP classes?" The question was "Do colleges look differently at an applicant who takes a few IB classes than one who does the full diploma?" And the answer is yes.

But presumably a student who doesn't go for the diploma has reasons, and if they're good ones, parents shouldn't insist. It's a lot of work -- some say busywork, although that has not been my kid's experience -- and it's not the only way to end up at the right college. Push yourself but don't torture yourself.

The question was "do you view a student that takes several IB classes but does not complete the IB diploma differently than a student who takes several AP classes but not a full schedule of AP classes"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened at Woodson?

Many years ago, FCPS had planned to place the IB program at Woodson, and the parents didn't want it. The school remained AP. Not really a big deal.

Did the other schools that now have IB have support for it or did the school board make the decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened at Woodson?

Many years ago, FCPS had planned to place the IB program at Woodson, and the parents didn't want it. The school remained AP. Not really a big deal.

Did the other schools that now have IB have support for it or did the school board make the decision?

The school board chose which schools would have IB and which would have AP in the late 90s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened at Woodson?

Many years ago, FCPS had planned to place the IB program at Woodson, and the parents didn't want it. The school remained AP. Not really a big deal.

Did the other schools that now have IB have support for it or did the school board make the decision?

The school board chose which schools would have IB and which would have AP in the late 90s

It was a fad from the late 90s until the early 00s. FCPS stopped converting AP schools to IB after Woodson objected and it became clear IB was not stemming white flight, but instead giving kids at poorer IB schools an option to transfer to wealthier AP schools. Both of the high schools that opened thereafter (Westfield and South County) were AP.