why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: post about Tech student above-- A friend's DC had heaps of AP credits and while she got out of some classes at Tech with those credits, in several she was told she would have to take Tech's version anyway. Friend said they were told that Tech wanted to be sure students had the particular foundation the departments there wanted, taught in the way the departments wanted. I offer that as just what it is--one student's experience with one college. But it does show that there is not a clear "take one AP course, get out of one college class in the equivalent course" deal. Each college is going to make its own choices and some kids and parents may be surprised to find their focus on AP as a college-credits plan isn't as direct as they thought. That's why, whatever the program, AP or IB, focusing on learning and being ready for college level work seems like a wiser way to approach things. Not dissing AP here, just saying some people look at it as a way to power through college faster and not as a way to learn skills to use in college.

I work with a bunch of recent college grads and hear the same story all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: post about Tech student above-- A friend's DC had heaps of AP credits and while she got out of some classes at Tech with those credits, in several she was told she would have to take Tech's version anyway. Friend said they were told that Tech wanted to be sure students had the particular foundation the departments there wanted, taught in the way the departments wanted. I offer that as just what it is--one student's experience with one college. But it does show that there is not a clear "take one AP course, get out of one college class in the equivalent course" deal. Each college is going to make its own choices and some kids and parents may be surprised to find their focus on AP as a college-credits plan isn't as direct as they thought. That's why, whatever the program, AP or IB, focusing on learning and being ready for college level work seems like a wiser way to approach things. Not dissing AP here, just saying some people look at it as a way to power through college faster and not as a way to learn skills to use in college.

I work with a bunch of recent college grads and hear the same story all the time.

I'm the PP whose son went to Tech. I think it's really spot on -- the department really did encourage him to make sure he had a strong foundation and didn't just take all of his AP credits and accelerate him. I think it's probably the right thing to do since he'd rather get it right than get it done quickly with knowledge gaps.

I do think, strangely, that the successful IB schools have a high diploma completion rate. I think Robinson was right around 80 percent. I remember hearing something similar about Marshall, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents, being rational decision-makers, prefer AP for their students because it's easier to hedge your bets and still be very competitive when it comes to college admissions. IB is much more "all-in," when it comes to the IB diploma program, and the attrition rate is quite high. And then those kids are left non-diploma candidates at IB schools, and they are at a disadvantage compared to both IB diploma students at their own schools and the students taking a decent number of AP courses at AP schools.

That may not be fair, but that's the way it is, and it's one (not the only) reason the AP schools continue to have much larger cohorts of bright kids.

That is one reason why many universities prefer IB over AP. IB diplomas are not a dime a dozen.

You're missing the point. IB diplomas are no better than a student taking a lot of AP courses, but not being an IB diploma candidate at an IB school is an easy black mark.

But don't bother listening to me. Just watch as, year after year, the best high schools in NoVa are pretty much all AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: post about Tech student above-- A friend's DC had heaps of AP credits and while she got out of some classes at Tech with those credits, in several she was told she would have to take Tech's version anyway. Friend said they were told that Tech wanted to be sure students had the particular foundation the departments there wanted, taught in the way the departments wanted. I offer that as just what it is--one student's experience with one college. But it does show that there is not a clear "take one AP course, get out of one college class in the equivalent course" deal. Each college is going to make its own choices and some kids and parents may be surprised to find their focus on AP as a college-credits plan isn't as direct as they thought. That's why, whatever the program, AP or IB, focusing on learning and being ready for college level work seems like a wiser way to approach things. Not dissing AP here, just saying some people look at it as a way to power through college faster and not as a way to learn skills to use in college.

I work with a bunch of recent college grads and hear the same story all the time.

I'm the PP whose son went to Tech. I think it's really spot on -- the department really did encourage him to make sure he had a strong foundation and didn't just take all of his AP credits and accelerate him. I think it's probably the right thing to do since he'd rather get it right than get it done quickly with knowledge gaps.

You said he chose to. Which is it? Forced or chose to retake?

I do think, strangely, that the successful IB schools have a high diploma completion rate. I think Robinson was right around 80 percent. I remember hearing something similar about Marshall, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: post about Tech student above-- A friend's DC had heaps of AP credits and while she got out of some classes at Tech with those credits, in several she was told she would have to take Tech's version anyway. Friend said they were told that Tech wanted to be sure students had the particular foundation the departments there wanted, taught in the way the departments wanted. I offer that as just what it is--one student's experience with one college. But it does show that there is not a clear "take one AP course, get out of one college class in the equivalent course" deal. Each college is going to make its own choices and some kids and parents may be surprised to find their focus on AP as a college-credits plan isn't as direct as they thought. That's why, whatever the program, AP or IB, focusing on learning and being ready for college level work seems like a wiser way to approach things. Not dissing AP here, just saying some people look at it as a way to power through college faster and not as a way to learn skills to use in college.

I work with a bunch of recent college grads and hear the same story all the time.

I'm the PP whose son went to Tech. I think it's really spot on -- the department really did encourage him to make sure he had a strong foundation and didn't just take all of his AP credits and accelerate him. I think it's probably the right thing to do since he'd rather get it right than get it done quickly with knowledge gaps.

You said he chose to. Which is it? Forced or chose to retake?

I do think, strangely, that the successful IB schools have a high diploma completion rate. I think Robinson was right around 80 percent. I remember hearing something similar about Marshall, too.

PP here. From what I recall, my son was both encouraged to re-do certain courses that he could have opted out with AP credit and he actually dropped a few classes and went back to re-do the pre-req after initially being signed up for the class voluntarily. It wasn't an either or situation. The school was really focused on him succeeding. Sure, he could have finished sooner, but I think having a stronger GPA and foundation was more important to him, so he didn't fight them on this (I assume you don't have children in a STEM major in college dealing with this -- it's apparently super common).

[Anonymous]

AP/IB credits count for little more than elective credit at most reputable colleges

[Anonymous]

Where I"m from there were both options - take AP classes or get your IB. I'm from a very science focused family, so we took AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where I"m from there were both options - take AP classes or get your IB. I'm from a very science focused family, so we took AP classes.

+1

Our HSs had both AP and IB. Some students did the IB Diploma, most did AP. My AP classes were not "watered down" the way they are today, and in college, a 5 on the AP test placed out of a lot of first year courses, including Calc. I had a good foundation for the rest of the math classes.

[Anonymous]

Are the tests for AP watered down these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where I"m from there were both options - take AP classes or get your IB. I'm from a very science focused family, so we took AP classes.

My science focused kid is taking bio, Chem, and physics as his 3 required HL classes

[Anonymous]

Eight IB high schools in FCPS and only 13 National Merit Semifinalists among them? What a weak showing.

No wonder people prefer the AP schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eight IB high schools in FCPS and only 13 National Merit Semifinalists among them? What a weak showing.

No wonder people prefer the AP schools.

Is this the same PP who always comes back with stats on costs, demographics, rankings, numbers of IB diplomas granted, etc.? I see these posts on every IB/AP thread and wonder if it's one person or a handful.

I won't argue with your numbers. I don't sit around totaling which schools have semifinalists or what various schools' demographics are now, or were back in the past. I send my kid to the academic program that works best for my kid, right now, and don't know or care how many semifinalists our school had last year, or whether IB somehow affects white flight somewhere over decades. Today, this week and this year, my teen is doing the program he chose and likes. Yeah, it's all about us. Just as it is for families happy with AP or Academies or honors or whatever works for their kids. Not sure why you are so angry al the time about a program your family doesn't want.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if there's just one poster who keeps claiming IB is better college prep than AP or if there are several. There certainly seems to be a lot of information that AP students perform better academically, at least in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if there's just one poster who keeps claiming IB is better college prep than AP or if there are several. There certainly seems to be a lot of information that AP students perform better academically, at least in FCPS.

I'm one of the posters who wants more information to better understand the issue. Not in FCPS, and no students at HS level yet. I think anyone objective can see that some schools/students have higher test scores. What no one has yet demonstrated is whether that has anything to do with AP vs. IB, or whether it simply reflects the demographics of the school. Also not clear is whether IB vs. AP has had any effect on the demographics of a school, or whether the changing demographics are incidental or more related to transfer policy rather than the programs themselves.

What I have been able to discern is that there is at least one poster who is VERY upset that they were rezoned to South Lakes and seems to blame that on the IB program.

[Anonymous]

We've been looking in Loudoun and it seems like all the schools there have AP, not IB.

It does suggest that IB was kind of a "fad" in the 1990s since so many of the schools in Loudoun were built more recently. Perhaps they looked at IB in Fairfax and decided it wasn't a great idea?