<p>I heard that Duke only accepts students who take the most challenging courses at the respective high school. </p>
<p>I'm taking all AP classes. The most i can take possibly. But there are also IB programs, which is considered the hardest courses.</p>
<p>Does that mean i can't get into Duke?</p>
<p>And if so, what other colleges have the same policy?</p>
<p>Is the IB program in your school? If not, don't sweat it. Just because it exists in your vicinity, doesn't require you to be necessarily a participant.</p>
<p>There are many schools that aren't aware of exactly how rigorous the IB program can be, so in most situations, AP and IB are considered equally.</p>
<p>Will your guidance counselor mark "Most Rigorous Curriculum" on your app? If so, you should be fine--assuming, of course, that you did well in your courses and are still ranked somewhere around the top 5% of your class (the magical number I've heard for unhooked Duke applicants).</p>
<p>That may be an exaggeration: Duke may favor those with harder course loads (obviously), but not necessarily only accept those who have them.</p>
<p>I think that in your case you have no reason to worry because you took as many APs as possible, which must count for something. I really doubt that a college is going to differentiate AP and IB enough to deny you admission even if one is <em>slightly</em> harder than the other. I think the point of what you heard was to take the hardest courses possible, and you effectively did that. I wouldn't sweat it.</p>