Reply to Practical differences between AP and IB in FCPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You all are still bickering and I’m not sure OP
has even come back.  [/quote]

🤣 OP here. I've been reading but this thread is...a lot

I'm not sure what else to ask other than: why do people keep mentioning the inability to do IB and take extra curriculars. I'm big on the idea that kids should have well rounded school experiences. Is the extra coursework in IB problems so great that kids can't have outside activities. That doesn't sound like a great trade off but I could be misunderstanding.[/quote]

It’s a prescriptive program that wasn’t designed with American HS kids with their own extra-curricular interests in mind.  So some of the requirements take up a lot of time.

I’ll admit I’m biased. We were at an IB school where a lot of kids doing the full IB program were miserable and then resentful when other kids they knew got into the same or better schools. I think you really need to do full IB for its intrinsic value, such as it is, and not expecting some big payoff in terms of college admissions. [/quote]

+1
IB is not going to help in college admissions, because of its rigidity and a lot of busy work. For academics AP kids can easily take 6-8 core APs outshining the 3 HL classes in the diploma program and as a results they are better prepared for college with a broader knowledge base.

IB kids sink a lot of time in their ToK, CAS, EE, etc, when the other kids load up on rigorous academic classes.[/quote]

All of your reasoning is completely inconsequential. Universities look at admissions in the context of available courses at each school, so a comparison between a kid at an IB school versus an AP school is never drawn in the first place. Neither program helps nor hurts more than another as far as admissions goes.[/quote]

Context matters but only marginally, it’s not the determining factor. You’ll be compared against the entire applicant pool, still need to take the challenging course load. You’re at a disadvantage in IB because it’s so restrictive and you waste so much effort on on the fluff. When did Theory of knowledge ever moved the needle on an applicant? But I’m certain taking AP Physics C matters. With AP, you have the flexibility to choose you schedule based on how capable you are, you can focus more in an area you’re interested in, and you have more rigorous courses to begin with.

Compare 6-8 APs with 3HL, there’s no contest and no surprise, IB kids don’t do as well in admissions. [/quote]
The HL courses are 2 year courses. [/quote]

Yeah, IB HL classes take two years, while AP classes take one year. Yet AP classes get more university credit because they go deeper.

Imagine this, an IB kid is interested in stem and takes HL Math analysis, and HL Physics. That’s all he can do in this area because the rest is filled with ToK, CAS, SL classes etc. The AP kid will take Calculus BC, Statistics, Chemistry, plus he has two elective that could be Biology and Computer Science.

IB kid has two college level classes, the AP kid has six. But no, we’re being told they’ll never be compared directly because they come from two different high schools in the same zip code. There shouldn’t be a surprise IB kids are not doing that well.

But wait, who’s the better global citizen with critical thinking and problem solving skills? For sure admissions “love” IB applicants! Seriously how dumb does one have to be to buy into the these cliches![/quote]
Just ignore this troll.  My three kids all went to top 20 schools in STEM and were very well prepared by IB. There is a ton of info comparing IB and AP online if you’re interested in learning more. [/quote]

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