I really appreciate you reaching out aboutthis issue. We (my colleagues at Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Princeton andVanderbilt) have been talking about this in presentations throughout Asia, Europeand India. We absolutely do not expect an IB student to take additional APcourses or tests. Submitting AP scores in addition to the IB diploma does notheighten our assessment of an applicants curricular rigor and does not put anIB student in a more competitive position in the selection process. In fact, takingthe time to study AP coursework and take AP tests could even diminish astudents chances of standing out in the selection process if it negativelyimpacts the students ability to pursue meaningful activities outside theclassroom.
There are parents in other countriesfalling victim to the same message, likely promoted by agents who claimexpertise. Taking an AP or two would not change our review. We have tremendousrespect for the preparation the IB program provides foruniversity/college-level work. We especially know that students arewell-prepared for interdisciplinary work an generally have sharpened analyticaland critical thinking skills.
I would never encourage students to take APexams outside of the IB because that equates to time taken away somewhere elsein their development. Case in point would be if they are preparing for APexams, this might mean showcasing less leadership in an activity or club thatis a significance to the student. As you know in our evaluation process,extracurricular involvement and leadership make a substantial impression on thecommittee. Further if the predicted IB score is modest and it is seen that theAP scores are strong, we do not link the two curricula together; it would havebeen better if they focused on one area rather than trying to spread themselvesthin amongst the variety of testing systems out there.
We regard the IB diploma as one of thestrongest curricula that we see on our applications. If a student was takingthe IB diploma as well as an AP or two, its unlikely that would change the waywe evaluated the applicant. We generally only look at AP when its a part ofthe curriculum (i.e. it is taught at their school), and not for the examresult. For the most part, I think its unnecessary for students in an IBcurriculum to be taking AP courses in addition to their school coursework. Wewould prefer that they focus on their schoolwork and excel in those classes andon those
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