Graduation Completion amongst IB and AP Students in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

Students in high school with advanced placement (AP) course credit and international baccalaureate (IB) exams receive special consideration when applying for admission to universities. How do these two groups of students compare in terms of graduation success? Propensity score matching was conducted to achieve an equal number of students in the IB and AP student groups because of the disproportionate number of AP students admitted to the university. This study compared IB and AP students who were incoming freshman at two southern universities to assess any difference in graduation completion using logistic regression. Results indicated comparable graduation completion amongst IB and AP students. The key indicator for graduation completion was whether entering freshman had a low grade point average their first year.