Reply to Is the IB diploma worth it?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Isn't there an AP Research seminar course? Is it similar to IBDP's Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class?[/quote]

I live in the hinterlands.  I haven't heard of high schools here offering AP Seminar.  Or some of the other new courses (AP Pre-Calc).

My younger child is taking AP classes but there's no unified perspective or method across AP classes.  I have a hard time understanding what added value AP Seminar would have compared to TOK.[/quote]

What unified perspective do you want across APs? They are supposed to be introductory college classes not Unified Theory of Everything. As if IB classes have that feature beyond some empty drivel from marketing materials.

AP Seminar can be taken as English 10, so kids are doing more challenging work early. You may not understand the added value of AP Seminar but many colleges like MIT do and give college credits. Unlike TOK that doesn’t get any.[/quote]

You're awfully touchy about the value of AP's expansion of their product line.  They are clearly trying to push as many courses as possible so that en masse the set more or less becomes a program of study.

DMV goes so hard on this stuff.  Until DCUM, I had never even heard of kids self-studying APs when they weren't taking the class at all.

My kid did not take TOK because at our school it's taught before school and he was not getting the diploma.  But the kids who took it really found it enriching.  And that is the true purpose of advanced high school education.  Intellectual development.  Not trying to pack in credits so you can go to college for fewer total years. Which itself can be an anti-intellectual decision, even if cost-effective.[/quote]

The point is to evaluate the worth of the IBDP. AP has something similar with their Capstone, about the same number of kids as IBDP do it, research paper, 3-4 advanced classes.

Nobody in their right mind thinks the Capstone diploma moves the needle on admissions, yet, in this thread people claim IBDP is “well regarded” by AOs, and that it drastically improves odds at top universities. That’s clearly not true.

Let’s not make TOK into something that it’s not, ie intelectual development, advanced high school education, lol at the bold words. If getting general ed classes out of the way is anti-intellectual, then I’m down.

[/quote]

People like AP and IB because they provide rigorous coursework compared to honors and regular classes. How do you know the classes are good? Because a third independent party, colleges, say so in the form of giving credit.

New AP courses like Seminar, and Research, are a step above English 10. I’d rather my kid does Seminar instead of regular classes. I appreciate the fact that 9-10th graders have access to advanced classes, even if less demanding.

When it comes to diploma, IB, AP or even DE with their AA degree, I haven’t seen any evidence it’s better for admissions than the grades received separately for the exams. But I see a lot of parents rationalize it as “my kid did it, it was hard, it must worth something, colleges will love IBDP”.[/quote]

AP is a walk in the park compared to the full IB. The AP exams are Mickey-Mouse against the IB exams and demands of the full IB. My kid did both. [/quote]

You’re just proving my point, your argument is just “my kid did it, it’s good”. Most colleges give the same credit to AP and IB classes, so I’d rather go by that objective measure instead of your subjective anecdote. I get you’re a proud parent but don’t get carried away thinking the path your kid took is the only one worth taking. [/quote]

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