As the Harriton sophomores and freshmen began to discuss the “IB v. AP” decision, the Banner began to wonder about it as well. The question in the minds of students is, “Which program will give me a better chance of getting into college?” The Harriton Banner has gotten in touch with Cigus Vani, an ex-Swarthmore admissions officer to get more insight on the matter.

He provided us with an incredibly descriptive and clarifying comparison. His general message is that both programs are equal, but they are different. And because of their differences, there is a misconception: Some colleges, due to what they are looking for or what they are familiar with, will seem to favor one program over the other. Because of this, the choice is what teachers/ counselors,, etc.. have been telling us all along: do what you prefer. If you have a strong calling towards one of the programs, you will most likely succeed because you will enjoy the learning style more and there are colleges that teach in that style so you will be able to continue this in your post-secondary education. For this reason, you should choose the program you most prefer and it could help put you on the path to the type of college you are looking for.

However, he also notes that taking only 2 AP courses does not equal an IB student but taking an extreme amount of AP courses exceeds on IB student.

His whole explanation of the differences between the programs is below:

“Back in the ’90’s when Philadelphia underwent its restaurant renaissance, on Walnut Street between 15th and 16th were not one, but two five-star eateries. Le Bec-Fin was a fixed menu restaurant–the first thing a customer saw upon entering was a blackboard listing the six-course dinner that would be served that night. There was always a theme (which varied throughout the year–one month it might be French, next month it could be American south) and the chef went out of her/his way to create a blended, interconnected meal. Just when you thought you would burst from all that food, a dessert cart with three offerings would be brought out, and that was the final part of the meal.

Striped Bass was an a la carte restaurant. The first thing you saw when you came in was a hostess who handed you an eight-page menu with 70-80 different options. The specialty, as you might imagine, was seafood–but if you didn’t want to order seafood, you wouldn’t have to do so. Want three seafood dishes and no vegetables? No problem. Want only vegetables and no dessert? It’s yours. All of the entries and desserts were super delicious, and you could put them together however you wanted–all meat/no meat, all sauce/no sauce,, etc..

Le Bec-Fin is IB. Striped Bass is AP. Two fabulous five-star restaurants–who wouldn’t want either of these? One is not “better” than the other–one is DIFFERENT from the other. The rigor of each program is exceptional and unquestioned–BUT if you are planning to attend MIT you might be better off with AP (all math/science, less English/humanities) whereas Swarthmore wants you to eat all your vegetables and all your desserts as well (interdisciplinary eating and studying–IB). I would say, in my experience among selective schools that AP and IB are viewed as equally appealing and equally rigorous depending on the number of AP courses a student takes (two AP classes in no way “equals” an IB Diplomate–twelve AP courses might surpass an IB Diplomate). Middle-level colleges are likely to be more familiar with AP than IB and hence could be perceived as being “more AP than IB.” I recall back about fifteen years ago I gave a presentation to the deans and the faculty at The College of New Jersey about IB because so few of them were familiar with it. Would Penn State have far more experience with AP than with IB? You bet–and that may make it seem as if they would “prefer” AP.

To take one further step… schools that pride themselves on their interdisciplinary liberal arts approach to education (Swarthmore, Middlebury, Chicago, the Gallatin School at NYU, Skidmore, etc.) may well view an IB Diplomate as a more desirable candidate because their experience in IB essentially matches the educational philosophy of the college. I can tell you that my first year at Swarthmore was in 1968, which coincided with the year that the very first IB Diploma class in the world graduated–and there were several IB grads among my classmates. This was not an accident since Swarthmore expects a student to take twenty courses outside the major before graduating and is essentially an IB 2.0 school.

And more specifically as regards rigor: IB HL classes are typically viewed as equally rigorous if not more so than AP subjects while AP classes are perceived as being equally rigorous if not more so than IB SL offerings within the same subject. One thing many colleges don’t understand is that SL doesn’t mean “slow” level or “standard” level–the rigor is just the same (or is supposed to be just the same) as an HL course with the sole difference being the number of hours in class. But, see–here’s how AP can be perceived as “more rigorous” by colleges that think this way: I take six AP courses, you take the six course IB hexagon. Three (maybe four) of yours are HL and they’re “just like AP,” but two or three of yours are SL and they’re “not as strong as HL and therefore not as good as AP.” This is incorrect, BUT it is a common misperception. IB is a classic example of how the whole is more than the sum of its parts–and what about those three desserts one must eat (EE, TOK, CAS)?”

Even though the main focus of this article is about college, the main message and the answer to the question, “Which program is better for college?” is simply that if you choose the program that is right for you, and work to your highest potential, you will end up at the college that is right for you. This is the essence of Mr. Vani’s answer and what you should take into account when making the decision: what do you want to do?