Gangsturr123

I'm in state. (Northern Virginia- competitive & largest HS in the state) My weighted will probably be 3.9 at the highest (4.0 if i do VERY well senior year.)

ehiunno

Whats your UW? (sorry if you posted it already and I missed it, long thread)

I took a lot of AP/IBs, but yeah, melli has a good point in that you should take the AP over the IB any day as you will get a lot more credit for it, and it will be easier to get the required score to get credit (i think). I mean if your taking 4 now, your on the right track; try to do 4 or 5 or so next year and you will be fine. More than that is probably overkill unless you are taking some easy ones.

Gangsturr123

haha unweighted sort of depends on my 4th quarter grades..but i know that itll be 3.8 something!

galoisien

IB does work very well if you also plan to apply overseas in addition to US schools. Even after you've completed your undergraduate education, the stuff you wrote for TOK and EE can still be useful on resumes. (Assuming you did well on them...)

Gangsturr123

Thanks, galoisien!!! Very true. I have no doubt in my mind IB is very useful later on in life, regardless of whether or not it gets me into college/college credit! =)
Unfortunately, I am not allowed (for financial reasons especially) to leave the country or even my state for college, haha.

Gangsturr123

any other advice/input, anybody????

mckin43

My D's (she is a UVA first-year) high school in No VA dropped IB some years ago because of some of the issues already posted on this thread. They now offer only AP. She ended up with 8 APs over the 4 high school years (1 soph. year, 3 jr. year, 4 sr. year). I believe the key is to take as many as you possibly can while keeping good grades in those AP subjects (the course grade matters much more than the exam grade...the AP exam grade is used only for placement/incoming credits as far as I know). Its a balance. D did not take Latin AP her sr. year (and she would have had to take that for her 4year in a language) because she knew the teacher and content and very few kids earned better than a C in the course....so she came in to UVA with 3 years of language rather than 4, but it allowed her to take another AP she knew she could do well in.....good luck!

Gangsturr123

Thank you, mckin43!! Your post was very helpful!! That sounds like a good amount of AP classes to take.

mckin43

Good luck...I'll be rootin' for ya!

Gangsturr123

thank you!! =)

clas84/law87

The advice we received from the alumni liaison office was: ideally your senior year you should take the highest level your high school offers in as many of the five core courses that you can--math, english, history, science, and foreign language. My D took APs in 4 of the 5 her senior year and took a very high level (post-AP type) science class. Of course, if you are not going to be able to maintain mostly A's in these classes, make choices accordingly.

D received likely letter and was accepted, so I think the advice was sound.

Gangsturr123

Thanks a lot, clas84/law87! That sounds like a good plan- I'll try to focus on doing IBs/Aps in all my core classes at the least. Thanks!

Gangsturr123

bump, anyone?

Barrett08

Does UVa give decent credit for IB HL's?

Gangsturr123

Barrett08, this is taken from UVA's website under "FAQ":

"Does U.Va. recognize the IB diploma?
In general, students who earn scores of 5, 6, or 7 on the IB Higher Level examinations receive credit and place out of lower-level courses. For admission purposes, we assume that students pursuing a full IB diploma are taking the toughest academic program available to them and that, as we say above, is what the Committee on Admission generally wants to see.

More information about IB credits in the College of Arts and Sciences please see: The College of Arts and Sciences IB Policy."

(Link= U.Va. Office of Admission > Frequently Asked Questions > Answers to Questions About Admission )

hopefully that helps!