Reply to why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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

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.[/quote][/quote]

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).[/quote]

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