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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here again - I am reading up on AP vs IB - our kids are current 5th and 7th graders. My partner is also a professor, in math and engineering, and he thought the students with AP background seem more "brave" and confident about proceeding onto more complex math (at that point, I guess it's calculus or another complex thing). I'm in the humanities field, so I can definitely see the benefit of the IB approach though, to nurture a more global perspective, and I like the "service" element of the program.[/quote]

I’ve had kids at both IB and AP schools and my impression is that IB is a more time-consuming “package deal.”  It is a lot of work, with multiple requirements, and the kids actually seem to stand out less than kids at AP schools who structure their own course load and then often have more time to excel at various extra-curricular endeavors.  Others may have a different opinion but, as I said, mine is at least based on direct experience with both types of schools.
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You're the second person who told us something like this about the IB, that it might not be "worth" all the work/hours that need to go into it. Very helpful, thank you.[/quote]

Here's a Quora response on IB that I thought was pretty informative regarding the general quality and usefulness of an IB program. One of the things I found alarming and which I did not know, is that calculus is apparently not used at all in any of the IB physics courses. To me that says a lot, as it's pretty hard to understand physics well without the aid of calculus:

https://qr.ae/pI6NvZ
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Wow, thanks for this (it's me, OP). This sort of confirms what I had gathered on my own, from the internet. Which takes our school search back to the drawing board, because Marshall HS only has IB. Maybe McLean (pressure cooker?), Madison (too big/sport-centered?), Oakton, Fairfax, Woodson, West Springfield?? Anyone has thoughts on these schools?[/quote]

I think that, for various reasons, McLean, Madison and West Springfield are especially strong options.

McLean is a top school academically and it has so many strong “extra” programs:  band, crew, theatre, student publications, and Scholastic Bowl.  It can be a pressure cooker, especially for girls, but the administration knows this and counsels the students to not overdo things.

Madison gets great community support, especially from the Town of Vienna, and has a fantastic band program and very good sports teams.  The prior principal was not great and fostered a sports-first atmosphere that left some feeling left out, but the current principal is very good and has created a more inclusive environment.

West Springfield is a lower-cost, less intense version of those two school communities, but also has a compact attendance area and a close-knit community, and is among the schools in FCPS that most stand out when it comes to high expectations and achievement for its black and Hispanic kids.

The other schools you mentioned have their strengths (Fairfax, for example, offers more performing arts courses than any other high school in NoVa), but these three would be my top choices. [/quote]

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