| UF is famously in love with IB, and I heard UVA likes it well enough. I think colleges will be happy at the 'most demanding courseload' checkmark no matter what program your high school offered, though...I go to an IB school, and people claw to take the whole Diploma. If you're just planning to take a few IB courses for the Certificates, you will very likely be at a disadvantage when compared to your peers doing the Diploma.
Also, within the IB, it is highly advisable to choose the harder courses, e.g. Math SL (2-year calculus based course) over Math Studies SL (1-year, more stats/applied Math), Foreign Language B SL (5 years) over Foreign Language ab initio SL (2-3 years), as some guidance counsellors (including the ones at my school) are no longer automatically checking "most demanding courseload" for simply doing the Diploma.
IB exams are a lot more writing and less multiple-choice than AP, so if a student is not very good at expressing himself/herself through writing, AP might be a better option since so much of IB weighs on writing (not to mention the 4000-word EE and the TOK essay). It's a lot about the 'fit' (like college), whichever program suits a student best and are the best for their grades should be the one they do. It wouldn't do to choose a program that colleges supposedly prefer and then flunk out of all the classes. |