Rachel YoonI was an International Baccalaureate (IB) student in high school, meaning that instead of taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes I was part of the IB Program and graduated with an advanced degree recognized, it seems, everywhere but at Washington University.
In theory, my IB diploma means that I came to college better prepared for the rigors of a university than the average AP student. This is because IB is a “program” rather than a set of courses, with curricular requirements, interdisciplinary projects and in-depth research and analysis papers in every class. The program is expected to be of the length and caliber required for college courses and graded by esteemed IB faculty in Switzerland.
In practice, my IB diploma means that every semester, without fail, when it comes time to register for courses I am completely and totally screwed. Even now, as a rising senior, I was given a registration time a full day later than most of my classmates, and consequently have been waitlisted to not one but three of my first choices, all three in my major.
Why? Because Washington University’s College of Arts & Sciences awards up to 15 units of credit for AP exams, which puts AP students a full semester ahead of their class in terms of standing. This, in turn, allows those students to register for courses a full day ahead of the rest of their class for their entire tenure at Wash. U. By comparison, for IB exams, Washington University awards credit only for IB chemistry, and only for a perfect score on that exam. Having taken IB chemistry, and having done very well at it, I can tell you authoritatively that a perfect score in IB chemistry requires mastering half a semester’s worth of organic chemistry in two weeks of high school class. No thank you.
So, those of us not blessed with fours and fives on AP exams are, every semester, left at a disadvantage, cursed to fill leftover spaces in second-choice classes. Not that big a deal, sure, since our faculty’s great and most courses are interesting, but at the same time I find it pretty frustrating that I’ve spent three years trying to get into the same literature course and even now, at my last chance, am number 20 on the wait list.
What’s even more frustrating is the knowledge that my roommate, an accounting major in the business school, registered yesterday and was one of the first people in that course-a course which for her is an elective, because she’s interested in Jane Austen, and for me is the only really appealing option offered this fall for fulfilling the “1700-1900 Literature” requirement I must satisfy to finish my English major.
I’m not saying that accounting majors shouldn’t get to take literature courses; a good education is a diverse education. All I’m saying is that when a senior honors candidate in the English department can’t get into a literature course because people have registered for it as an elective 24 hours earlier, due to their performance on AP exams four years before, I think that’s a problem.
AP exams are expensive, they are culturally biased and they aren’t even offered in all schools. I have a friend from rural Missouri whose high school offered only one AP course each year because the cost of offering the program was so high. The cost of the exams was prohibitive for many more students. I have other friends whose high schools offered IB instead of AP, because they thought the IB program had more value. And I did IB because I was told explicitly by my college counselor that taking AP courses in a school where IB was offered would handicap me in college admissions because only a student who couldn’t handle IB would actively choose AP courses instead. Ironic, no?
“Student level” should be assigned solely based upon how long a student has been at the University, or for transfers, how long they’ve been at college. Student level should not be assigned based on dated test scores on exams we probably all BS’d anyway.
If a student wishes to apply for a more senior status because they really and truly intend to graduate early, then by all means let them, but otherwise there is no reason to privilege AP credits in registration. Some of us didn’t, or couldn’t, take five AP classes; should that really be held against us for four years?
Sara is a junior in Arts & Sciences and a staff columnist. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
It seems to me, Sara, you chose the wrong school. Too many Universities offer full scholarships for IB Diploma Students. My son, accepted to Harvard, Princeton, West Point Military Academy, and the Naval Academy will be given the opportunity to be test out of mainstream classes for the advanced.
I really do hope your Degree is as strong as you believe it will be in your future.