Scrolling through classes on Powerschool, there are numerous options for incoming juniors. There are numerous college prep courses offered by the school, but other than traditional classes there are options offered by the school with the International Baccalaureate (IB) full diploma program. Although both Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate courses are also offered separately. Along with the choosing of a class, there are fees not every student is aware of that may change your sway your decision.

“With IB you have to pay a registration fee,” Principal Mark Suchowski said. “Then you have to pay per test examination fee, and that’s determined by the organization. Full IB pays for, not only the assessments at the end of the year, but also pays for the internal assessments, taken along the way that go into making up that grade. So there is more of an overhead that is involved, rather than just paying for the big test at the end. AP is the around the same fee every year, it is determined by the organization, not the school.”

IB and AP exam fees can reach up to $100 with each course that is taken. The Full Diploma Program offered by IB waivers each year, but can potentially benefit recipients with anywhere from 2 years of college to 4 years covered.

“IB is recognized as a better program by colleges,” junior Ariana Mansour said. “Surveys show that you if you do IB your chances of getting into college are higher. Like the University of Michigan chances increase significantly with an IB diploma, so it is really beneficial if you know what you want.”

Even though more IB courses are offered, college credit is not always given for either type of course. Credit is given depending on which college is chosen and how high a participant scores.

“Schools like Alma college give you 32 credits for having a full DP diploma,” former IB Coordinator Dianna Baker said. “You walk in a as a ending sophomore, beginning junior. So you pay under a thousand dollars for full Diploma, and college classes are expensive so you save thousands of dollars for those two years.”

As an IB school, Fenton offers more IB courses than AP. Both courses are weighted and these grade point averages (GPAs) are considered on college applications.

“I wanted to take AP Bio, but the school doesn’t offer it,” junior Riley Shegos said. “I didn’t want to pay for it to take it online. Usually the school could pay for it if it is not offered, but if I said I wanted to take AP Bio their equivalent is IB Bio because it is offered.”

AP classes may not even be available to students due to the IB course that is offered. Even though online classes are offered, AP courses are considered advanced like IB, so even if AP is accepted at more schools IB is considered its equal.

“If you’re going to a competitive school, you have to have a competitive edge,” Baker said. “Or you don’t go to the ‘top of the pile’. AP or IB will do that for you, but then schools do their individual processes whether they want IB or AP students.”

When choosing classes in the spring, consideration to IB and AP can be considered for a different style of teaching. If IB classes are not offered in a course AP is a alternative that offers the same competitiveness, and weight that IB offers.