<p>Ucbal- good question! In our HS AP and IB are considered equally rigorous so I really do not have an answer. The data that was presented to us at the parent meeting showed that IB students have a higher acceptance rate to selective colleges than AP students do, but I do not know why. After 3 months of researching IB, my daughter decided to stick with AP. The weird thing about our HS is that most kids in the top 10% ( 95%) do the AP track. The kids who do IB ( about 20 kids out of 380 in the grade) are typically kids who are not in the top 10% ( maybe 2 or 3 are in the top 10%). My daughter’s chemistry teacher told me that kids who do IB at our school are those that are " a little higher than average" She was surprised that my daughter originally chose IB over AP. My friend’s daughter graduated from our HS last year with her IB diploma and currently attends a top college. Her biggest complaint about IB in our school was the classroom environment. She felt that the AP students had a better classroom environment than IB in terms of the types of discussions that took place etc. My research has led me to believe that although the IB program is very rigorous and highly regarded, it is not quite there yet at OUR HS. The stronger kids still do the AP track, and that is why my daughter is not doing IB. Our HS allows any student to do IB if they want, while that is not true for AP. I know kids who struggled with school and chose IB because it was advertised as a " different way of learning," and these kids really struggled. Again, I think that IB is probably amazing but I think that our school is still in the process of figuring it out, and perhaps several years from now the program will be perfected. I still can’t figure out how kids in our HS who are really struggling academically are permitted to take a program that is considered " most rigorous." Nobody at our school can answer that question, which leads me to believe that the program is still new ( our HS has had it for about 8 years, so I guess it is still new). I am not showing disrespect to struggling students, but putting them in a classroom with AP students who may be in the top 2% is not fair to either. Neither group will have their needs met, and that is currently what our IB program is like, and I see that as a problem. Other than this issue, our HS is phenomenal. My older daughter’s friend was one of those students who struggled academically ie did poorly, had a lot of tutoring etc. This kid went into the IB program because it was advertised to her as a " different way of learning" with " different types of tests." This kid did not get the IB diploma and barely made it through HS. She was in IB classes with kids who were accepted to Cornell had Hopkins. That is what is so strange to me. The good news is that this kid currently attends a small college and is doing very well.</p>
<p>@raclut, We were in the same sort of situation with D13 last summer. She was asked to produce a documentary half way around the world. She beat out college students for the job and we were thrilled for her. However, we had a family meeting about the pros and cons and decided to turn down the project. D stayed home to start college applications and research EE. I know she may sometimes regret turning down the documentary but she realizes her summer homework paid off and made her Sr. yr less stressful. In the end she was happy to know she was selected and offered a unique opportunity. I’m sure many more will come along her way.</p>
<p>Re: #41</p>
<p>Perhaps your high school sets the entrance standards for AP, IB, and regular courses in order to fill them; if IB courses are less popular, then the entrance standards may be lower even though the courses are harder than regular high school courses.</p>
<p>Yes I agree that this is how the IB program is currently handled. I think that the school is trying to change this, but it will take a few more years. This is the first year where the school sent personalized letters to the top 50 kids in the grade and invited them to learn more about the IB program.</p>
<p>We had contemplated withdrawing from the summer internship but the IB Advisor and guidance counselor said we are so proud of her. She should absolutely do this internship. All the HL IB science teachers met with the IB advisor to try to come up with a solution for my daughter. My daughter was surprised when she had her science teachers coming up to her and congratulating her because they had no idea what she was doing outside of the classroom. She is on the quieter side. Everyone at school is very encouraging and supportive.
If the internship and EE can not be combined that we are thinking she should choose another area for the EE perhaps a Business EE. She is looking at examples from different subject areas.<br>
Our school is very big on the IB program. Even if a student is not completing the IB diploma program they are highly encouraged to register for an IB class if they are at least an honors student.<br>
I think either way diploma/certificate she will be successful if she follows her passion and genuine interests. The IB Diploma/certificate students really support each other. It is a tight knit community since they are all going through challenges in the process of earning the IB diploma. We have at a very positive experience in our counties public school system.</p>