Our HS used to have both IB and AP. Most kids signed up for AP rather than IB, even fewer did the diploma, so the school district cancelled the AP program altogether to force everyone to do IB, because they are already “invested” in the IB program. Meanwhile, the other high school in the district continues to offer only AP. Requests for transfers is only granted on a one in, one out basis. So many more kids asked for transfers from the IB school to the AP school that the waiting list is a mile long, and virtually impossible.
IB is exasperating and completely unsuitable for STEM kids. The Diploma forces kids to spend a lot of time on non-STEM subjects like IB History, TOK, leaving you with only time for one IB science, and unless you do the diploma, you do not get that “most rigorous course work” distinction from your counselor. In our school only kids who do the diploma (which is about 15% of all kids who do IB) or athletic recruits get into elite schools. But the thing that I find most annoying is even though it is much more writing intensive and harder than AP, they are treated as one and the same by practically all colleges. For STEM kids who are typically not crazy about writing, IB is a nightmare. It’s also incredibly stupid for all schools to limit kids to only doing IB in 11th and 12th grade, which means you can’t even take the IB exams until end of senior year, so the test results and the diploma won’t even help you in college app. Meanwhile, the two year course work of IB HL classes means that they do not line up nicely with SAT II subject tests and AP tests so you have to spend lots of extra time prepping for these exams. It also means you can’t even relax and enjoy your senior year after the craziness of college app and acceptances.
IB is meant for international students. It’s entirely unsuitable for US schools. I wish our local school will get rid of it and bring back AP.
@cmsjmt, there must be a blue moon tonight, because I’m defending IB :). DS is a STEMish kid, and he had his difficulties coordinating his interests with IB. His school “pimped” the IB diploma, and DS discovered late in the game just how lame IB math was (eg, he was forced to take IB Math HL, which was two years behind where he was in math, and created a lot of friction with his IB teacher).
All that said, IB can teach STEM kids to manage their time and write well (a huge benefit for CS majors, for example). DS did some extra reading, took 8 AP tests successfully before senior year (tbh, I’m not sure why, but he wanted to), and was none the worse for wear.
DS is at his first choice, a tippy top school, and is currently double majoring in CS and (Psychology or History, changes almost weekly). For all of his and my grumbling, he benefited from the IB program. It should be improved in STEM, but it’s not a bad program overall.
@cmsjmt - As the parent of a STEM kid who completed the IB diploma program at a public high school that offered both AP and IB classes, I wholeheartedly disagree. The distribution requirements of the program forced her to challenge herself in areas where she did not have natural talent, and she came out of it with far greater capabilities and a broader array of interests and perspectives than she would have had if she had stuck to AP STEM classes. It wasn’t always easy, but it wasn’t supposed to be, nor did we expect it to be.
It’s a broad program by design, not a STEM academy, The IB mission statement:
"The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right."
Interesting topic. I just spoke with my son earlier this week as he is finishing his first batch of mid terms in college right now. He earned an IB diploma last year and the efficacy of IB has been an open issue with us for some of the reasons stated up the thread. He was most annoyed because the credit available at the schools he considered skewed heavily to AP courses, and it seemed like IB put him at a disadvantage in that respect. At his school, for example, a 5 on an AP test or a 6 or 7 on the IB HL test will get you credit. Not only did he perceive it to be harder to get a 6 or 7 on the HL tests than to get a 5 on the AP test, but effectively this policy locks out credit for two or three IB classes, unless the kid takes the AP test on the side. He also thought the CAS requirement was a joke. I agreed with him about that frankly.
At this point, he is convinced that the IB curriculum has helped him manage the course work so far at college and prepared him better than taking al a carte AP courses would have. For the record, he is a “science kid” who doubled up on IB HL Chem and Bio in high school. He is planning on majoring in either Molecular Biology or Chemistry. He is currently taking Mol Bio as a freshman at a “lottery” school and finds it relatively easy (calculus, not so much). This is apparently due in no small part to the way the IB curriculum forced them to write up labs. According to my son, the IB method is much more involved than the way labs are handled in AP classes, and several of his classmates have been climbing a pretty steep curve in learning how things are done in a college lab course so far this semester. Another advantage he is just starting to appreciate is that the IB curriculum taught him how to write, a skill of immense value in college, even for STEM kids.