7/30/2019 To IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | the Prospect

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-the-prospect 1/4

8/13/13 6:37 PMTo IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | The Prospect

Page 1 of 4http://www.theprospect.net/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-2911/

College admissions help? Check. Thoughtful, entertaining

writers? Absolutely. Fresh college/test prep topics? For

sure. Audacity? You’d better believe it.

SEARCH   ABOUT US

CONTACT

 WRITE FOR US

INTERN WITH US

THE TOOLBOX COLLEGE LIFE FINANCIAL AID STANDARDIZED TESTING RESOURCES ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION HIGH SCHOOL

Image from Tumblr.

My old high school was best known in our district for two things: its sport teams and its International Baccalaureate

program. As my klutzy nature kept me from excelling at any sport other than badminton (Asian heritage for the

win!), it was the IB Diploma Program that convinced me to enroll at Montgomery High School. I wanted to take the

most advanced courses possible and build up my college application marketability, so it sounded like IB was the

way to go.

Founded nearly 50 years ago, the IB organization is a nonprofit institution that offers an international education to

students at over 3,500 IB World schools in 145 countries; it also offers a Middle Years Program for students from

11 to 16 years old, and even a Primary Years Program for students from 3 to 12 years old, building up to the

Diploma Program for students from 16 to 19 years old.

The Diploma Program includes an advanced academic curriculum and several core requi rements, including the

Extended Essay (a kind of senior thesis), Theory of Knowledge (an epistemology course that emphasizes the IB

philosophy), and CAS (extracurricular activities highlighting “creativity, action, and service” that counterbalance

academic studies). Your IB final examination scores and fulfillment of above requirements determine whether or

not you earn the IB diploma. I’ve found that American students rarely take on the IB diploma to attend university

outside of the States, but rather to earn as many college-transferable credits as possible (to “get ahead” in

completing General Education requirements in college,) or increase their college application marketability by

boasting the IB diploma as an achievement on their resume.

When I hit junior year, I took as many IB classes as I could, but when I looked more closely at the d iploma

requirements, final examinations, and the likelihood of transferring credits to my future college (undetermined at

the time), I started second guessing my goal to earn the diploma. The IB program is great, and the classesdefinitely prepare you for the rigor of college courses, but there really is no guarantee for transferring credits from

IB classes if you don’t know which college you want to attend (which is largely the case for high school

sophomores about to commit to the IB Diploma Program).

RSS Feed Twitterfollowers

Facebook Like Us!

TumblrFollow us on Tumblr!

 Youtube

Subscribe

CONNECT WITH US

RECENT POSTS

Kicking Away The Summertime Blues

 When the Baristas Start to Recognize You: A GIFsPiece

 An Arbitrary List of the 5 Most Beautiful CollegeCampuses in New England

6 Tips for the Overzealous College Freshman

Financial Aid 101

RECENT COMMENTS

Ginny Torreso on An Arbitrary List of the 5 MostBeautiful College Campuses in New England

Janine Robinson at Essay Hell on Top 3 College Admissions Essay Mistakes: “I Love You,Princeton–I mean, um, Yale.”

Janine Robinson on Happy CommonApp Week!Now Let’s Write Some Supplements…

Marc Jamenson on Back To Life, Back To Reality:College Selection Edition

Eric on Hidden Gems: Ivy League LecturesScattered Across the Internet

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER 

THE TOOLBOX

To IB or Not to IB: InternationalBaccalaureate Students Tell Allby LILI BORLAND on Jun 13, 2013 • 9:00 am No Comments

7/30/2019 To IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | the Prospect

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-the-prospect 2/4

8/13/13 6:37 PMTo IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | The Prospect

Page 2 of 4http://www.theprospect.net/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-2911/

Image from RyannaBella.

What IB students spend most of their time doing.

In a best case scenario, my friend *Dan did

the IB diploma and entered Brigham Young

University as a junior because all his IB

classes were transferable. In a worst case

scenario, I had a friend named *Blake who

completed the IB diploma and didn’t get into

ANY of the schools to which he applied, but

this was mainly because he didn’t take

academics seriously for the first two years of

high school; he went on to study at the local

 junior college for two years and transferredto the University of Southern California no

sweat. (Don’t  let this last story freak you out;

it just goes to show that the IB diploma

doesn’t guarantee anything, even though

some people make it out to be an automatic

admission ticket to a good college).

The IB diploma and the stories of the

students working to earn it raises the

frustrating question, “What does  it take to

get into a good college today?” and the underlying question, “Is the IB diploma really worth it?” I realized this may

be a relevant topic for our readers at The Prospect, so I interviewed a handful of friends and friends of friends

about their experiences with the IB diploma. What I found out surprised me.

Christina’s Story: Dealing with IB Stereotypes

One of our own interns at The Prospect *Christina is currently an IB diploma candidate, somewhat anxious for this

article to state her name, as she herself has been wondering whether or not she truly wants to commit to the IB

diploma. Her high school offers a range of course levels – International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement,

Honors, Regents, College Level (SUPA, Adelphi, etc.) courses, and Applied – but is gradually getting rid of AP

courses and switching to IB. The IB program was in troduced to her high school three years ago by a new principal

(who is now, unfortunately, leaving), and the first class of IB students just graduated in 2012. Approximately 65

students in Christina’s grade tried out the IB program as juniors, but the number dropped down to 30 by the end of

the year.

Christina initially committed to the IB

diploma for a handful of reasons. “It was

supposedly the most rigorous course load;

my guidance counselor encouraged me to

do it; I was intrigued by the CAS hours (I

thought they would be a way of finding

more opportunities to participate in the

community); and the majority of my

classes were IB… so I thought, ‘Why not?’

when going for the diploma,” she says.

Although Christina expressed how much

she enjoyed her IB teachers and the

classes themselves, she did mention a

commonly held perception of the

program’s atmosphere created by IB

students. “In my school, the personality of the IB students comes out in ToK class because that’s the only class

with solely IB students in it. This is only my opinion (I’m biased in that I don’t like the IB program and I don’t like the

kids in it), but I get the feel that IB is viewed and treated as a sort of program for ‘gifted’ students when in actuality,

anybody can enter the program,” she admits. “The students are sort of pompous, condescending, and over

confident. I’m over exaggerating a bit, but a lot of the students believe that they’re better [or] more intelligent than

other kids.”

Christina’s main criticism of her school’s IB program concerned the scheduling of IB classes in conflict with AP

classes: committing to the IB program would mean missing out on AP classes she really wanted to take. Many

high schools that include both IB and AP courses place a heavy emphasis on one of the programs, more often on

the IB program, as many IB courses include material that sufficiently prepares students to take the AP exam in that

subject but AP courses fail to fulfill requirements specific to the IB diploma. Christina believes she’ll continue with

the IB diploma, since she’s already completed a year of the program, but her story does bring up some important

points.

Courtland’s Story: The IB Conveyor Belt

Courtland Thomas, an IB diploma graduate from Florida, is gearing up for his second year at Columbia

University, as part of Columbia College (which has the infamous Core Curriculum, similar to that of IB). Courtland

was able to share how the IB program prepared him for academics at Columbia and the college experience itself.

His high school offers alternative options to IB, such as AP, honors, and dual enrollment (a popular option);

approximately 70 students in his class of 500 earned the IB diploma.

“The IB program at my school was very much like a factory. It didn’t offer a large variety of courses in any of the 6

subjects, so you walked in, got put on a conveyer belt, and went through the whole thing. Of course, some people

 just got accepted to write for

 @theprospectblog AWWW YISSSS!!

Retweeted by The Prospect

Carlton Smith 

@presidential13

Expand

 Another state considers radical new tuition

model huff.to/1evPTHM

Retweeted by The Prospect

HuffPost College 

@HuffPostCollege

Show Summary

Check out Sarah's video on Financial Aid 101!

We promise you'll ace this "course" hardcore.

 

The Prospect 

@theprospectblog

12 Aug

12 Aug

12 Aug

Tweets Follow @theprospectblog

Tweet to @theprospectblog

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!

Find us on Facebook

The Prospect

Like

388 people like The Prospect.

Facebook social plugin

7/30/2019 To IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | the Prospect

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-the-prospect 3/4

8/13/13 6:37 PMTo IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | The Prospect

Page 3 of 4http://www.theprospect.net/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-2911/

Image from IB2@TSRS.

Image from IBO.

chose to jump off, or were put on the belt by their

parents, but that’s generally what it felt

like.” Since his high school had limited resources

to support an IB program, Courtland confessed

that, “my school wasn’t what I was fully expecting

of the IB program – at least not the full flexibility

to explore what subjects I wanted to…I would

have loved to study have studied anthropology at

the Higher Level, or French SL (both of which I’m

now studying in college), but my school didn’t

have the scheduling capabilities to allow suchflexibility in my course selection.” Courtland was 

impressed by the passion that his teachers

expressed for their IB course subjects, which

Courtland had difficulty finding outside the IB

program, even in the summer classes he took at

the community college.

Courtland quite accurately described the

program as “engulfing,” in substitution for the

typical adjective “stressful” that most IB students

use. “You walk into the IB program as one of the

few in your school, and everyone knew whether you were an ‘IB kid’ or not. You were around all other students

taking the IB a majority of the time, and, eventually, you gain this sort of community. You all undergo the same

stress, the same judgement from your non-IB cohorts, and the same expectations of your professors to do your

best, so you feel a group of students who legitimately have the same ideas or desires as you – knowledge.” An

exclusive sort of society, but a strengthening one.

Looking back, Courtland admits that earning the IB diploma was the right choice for him. “I completed 3 years of

Spanish and I was able to have a casual conversation about the protests in Egypt for my oral; I learned more about

biology than I would have if I hadn’t done the IB simply because it didn’t fascinate me enough to take an additional

courses in it; I probably would never had learned my passion for photography because I wouldn’t have taken a

single visual arts course. But I do think the amount of time and effort I put into it would have been better utilized or

appreciated if I had attended a different IB school.” Courtland’s story makes the point that not every IB World

school necessarily has a strong IB program; this is something any IB diploma candidate should consider before

fully committing to the program.

In terms of transfer credits, none of Courtland’s IB

courses transferred for college credit at Columbia. In

the case of my transfer credits, Wesleyan

University only accepts a maximum transfer of two

pre-matriculation credits. Wesleyan, like many otherliberal arts colleges, really wants you to explore the

classes it offers, which is what you’re paying for

anyways; I figure that the whole transferring credits

thing is really only appropriate if you have a good

idea of what you want to study and want to get

ahead in that field, or if you’re financially strained

and want to save money by graduating early. I

realized that, in my case at least, completing the

diploma would be a big waste of time. Instead, I took

a few IB classes (in English and Spanish), a few AP

classes (in math and science), and several junior

college classes (in subjects, like American history,

that I absolutely did not want to slave over at an IB

level). Junior college classes are almost

always guaranteed to transfer to whatevercollege/university you end up attending as a full-time student, and they’re generally easier  than IB classes.

To IB or Not to IB, That Is the Question

From what I’ve found, the IB d iploma is right for you if you want to study overseas or if you know you want to

attend a school that accepts enough IB credits to make your time and effort worthwhile. You don’t have to earn the

IB diploma to go to a great school. But hey, if you do go for the diploma, don’t be embarrassed or feel like you’re a

“sell out”. The diploma is ridiculously difficult to earn while both applying to college and keeping your social life

afloat, and if you think you can do it (and, more importantly, that you should do it), then by all means, go for it!

I’m not sure if this isn’t a biased opinion, as I haven’t earned the IB diploma myself, but taking Junior College and

AP courses alongside IB courses has worked for me and many other students I know. The most important thing is

to challenge yourself academically, whether by completing the diploma or taking a smattering of higher level

classes, without working yourself to death. You’re still in high school, and this is your time to have fun, too.

* = names changed to protect identities

You might also like:

7/30/2019 To IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | the Prospect

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-the-prospect 4/4

8/13/13 6:37 PMTo IB or Not to IB: International Baccalaureate Students Tell All | The Prospect

Page 4 of 4http://www.theprospect.net/to-ib-or-not-to-ib-international-baccalaureate-students-tell-all-2911/

IB What?Explaining IB in Allof Its Acronym-Loving Glory

The Low-Down About APs: AreThey Always WorthIt?

7 Ways TelevisionMisinterprets HighSchool

Is College Reallyfor Everyone?

Hey, “President of 10 Clubs” Girl: YouLook Really Niceon ...

Share this: Print

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Submit

LinkWithin

Tags: academics, AP, high school, high school life, IB diploma, International Baccalaureate, junior college, studies,studying, transfer credits, transferrable credits

 What do you think?

Name required  Email required  Website

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

© 2010 The Prospect. All Rights Reserved.Powered by  WordPress. Staff: Login

Designed by  WPSHOWER 

 Previous post "Ahhh, End of Year Finals!": A GIFs Piece

 Next post Procrastination? I’ll Explain It Later