Reply to Pyle/Whitman or Westland/BCC cluster better fit?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Pyle/Whitman or Westland/BCC cluster better fit?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP - thanks everyone for your feedback.  I wonder which one is more desirable, an AP program (Whitman) or an IB (BCC). Any views?[/quote]

09:06 again.

Views differ on this. If your kids wish to go to certain European universities, then perhaps a full IB diploma might be advantageous. Then again, the UK and Canada's most American-friendly universities know US applicants usually take AP exams, and have admission requirements tailored to them.
If your children wish to enroll in American universities, I believe (but others may disagree) that AP is best. The reason for this is that the IB grading system is NOT an American one originally: it's a European-based grading system and therefore, it takes a lot to have a high score. Americans tend to grade higher - the goal is the A, or a 5/5 on an AP exam. IB does not work like that, and yet, a lot of American colleges don't know this, and expect very high scores, which puts IB candidates at a very slight disadvantage during the application process. Currently American admissions are based on GPA, various test scores (even with the test optional system), course selectivity (whether a student was able to take their school's most challenging course offerings), extra-curriculars, and essays. Given this multi-pronged admission system, IB or AP will not make an enormous difference to a student's admission chances, provided students take a few APs, or a few IB classes, or both.

You can always take a look at course offerings at BCC and Whitman to get an idea of the differences. Core courses are required and bound to stay the same over the years, but there might be changes in languages and elective offerings, depending on the availability of teachers and waning/waxing interest in certain subjects.

[/quote]

Thank you so much, PP, for the thoughtful response. This was super useful. I really do not know what the future will bring. My kids might or might not go to college or university overseas. All three of us are dual citizens. [/quote]

Yes, as the PP mentioned these courses are offered at most every MCPS high-school. They all have the same teachers and curriculum. The only exception is some special classes at magnet schools.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics