<p>It was a scam and waste of time/effort. A lot of people will say positive things about it to validate themselves, but objectively, it wasn’t good. </p>
<p>I’m currently an IB student and am about to finish my junior year! Like many people have said, IB is hard, CAS is obnoxious, and the EE is just annoying. That being said, I am so glad that I chose IB. I have learned how to think, how to analyze, how to write, how to be a member of a truly international community, etc. IB is not just about taking hard classes and getting credit. Instead, it is about discovering yourself and discovering how you can benefit the world. I have no regrets about taking IB because I believe that what I have learned and what I will learn will benefit me for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Hi youngsters 
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<p>I’ve been out of IB for a few years and I can tell you that it was the best thing I ever did. It taught me how to truly think outside of the classroom. Due to my IB scores i’ve been able to cut down 1 4 year program into a two and a half year program. That’s 3 semesters of $$$ i’ll never have to pay! I’ll be going on to grad school and i’ll be spending that 4th semester sending out applications.</p>
<p>Yes, IB was hard. Yes, I thought it was a pain; however, it was soooo worth it. If you’re all having such an issue with IB (which IS understandable) maybe your school is doing something wrong. Ib is hard but it’s also exciting. I got to do so much more than the avg student at my hs. We traveled a bit to learn more; we were hands on with our classes. It was an exciting time to be learning!</p>
<p>ibsurvival [dot] com might be of help to you all 
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<p>The world is global (duhhh) IB is global. AP is not…but that could just be a bias of mine :P</p>
<p>Like anything, IB is a mix of good and bad. Some classes can be really boring and unengaging, the EE can be a huge headache, and CAS can seem pointless. On the other hand, classes can also be incredibly interesting, you tend to bond very closely with your IB classmates (at least in smaller programs like the one at my old HS), and all that hard work can really pay dividends when it comes to college (admissions, course credit, and ability to actually write at the college level). </p>
<p>AP is the same way, and ultimately you hope that the good aspects of your experience will make up for the crummy stuff. It did for me, and I hope it does for anyone who’s either starting or in the middle of IB. And congrats to this year’s IB graduates!</p>
<p>I loathed IB right up until I graduated, but it was one of the best decisions of my life. The curriculum is challenging, and there will be some sort of mental-break down at some point in one’s IB career. But, as I reflected on how I could whip out an Extended Essay in about a month or so and painlessly analyze Robert Frost poems, I realized that everything had become easier for me because I had skills, I knew the power of procrastination, and I was mentally adjusted to a heavier workload.</p>
<p>It also helped that I stopped revolving my life around my academic success. I reached a state of inner peace when I realized that my EE was submitted, by CAS was completed, and I was set to earn the IB diploma. Education became a tool for personal development rather than a fast-track to college credits and prestige, so I didn’t have to overkill one stupid poetry analysis or worry about the difference between getting a 5 in English HL and a 6. </p>
<p>I do feel like I was duped into believing that IB would be some sort of golden ticket to Ivy League acceptances, generous scholarships, and college credit hours; IB definitely helps in all of these areas but is not the be-all and end-all of college success. But, IB isn’t about these things anyways. IB isn’t for everyone and if you mainly care about college credit, take AP. The real value of IB lies in how I was in a small classroom of diverse, academically minded people where we were treated with respect and not as children that needed educational force-feeding; how our group of twenty or so IB students became a support system and ultimately family; and how I learned to work hard, think critically, and push my limits to achieve my full potential.</p>
<p>I’m actually quite happy with the 20+ IB English, IB History, miscellaneous AP, and Community College credits that I’ll take with me to A&M to full almost all of my University Core Curriculum Requirements. I have no use for a ridiculous amount of college credit that I won’t need to use toward my engineering degree anyways.</p>
<p>Alright, time to come in and clear the air here, and illuminate the truth about IB:
It all depends on what school you go to.</p>
<p>At my school, it was sold as a magical program that would get you into every Ivy League uni with them throwing cash at you and begging for you to attend (okay, an exaggeration, but you get the idea. When asking about how IB was viewed by my prospective colleges, the answer I was given was, “Don’t worry, you’ll get in.”) You were told how amazing it was, getting an international perspective, and great teachers, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>In reality, you stressed constantly, even if you were a student with a good study schedule, you couldn’t not worry. Your classes were small, so little disputes became huge ordeals, and that obnoxious kid became the person you loathed with your entire soul. Your teachers ranged from awesome to clinically insane, and everyone played the favorites game, even if they claimed not to. Since it was a ‘young’ program, no one knew what the heck was going on, so you didn’t either. Your teachers were either awesome or incompetent, with no middle ground. You had a math teacher that had never taught the Calc portion of IB Math SL, and didn’t have a Calc class. At all. Your history teacher read power points in class and wanted to talk about anything but history, and said military history was “boring” when your class was focusing on Communism in Crisis; the Rise of Single-Party Leaders; and the Causes, Practices and Effects of War.</p>
<p>What IB taught me was that when your teachers are useless, you just have to buckle down and figure it out yourself. And when your teachers are competent, they’re likely going to give you a crapload of work. Because you didn’t have anything better to do. Oh, and that sometimes it’s not pick 2 out of grades, social life, and sleep, it’s pick 1.</p>
<p>So, yes, I do regret IB, even as a graduated senior. I firmly believe that I got my acceptance to Vanderbilt IN SPITE of IB, not because of it. And I truly envy those of you that had a great experience at schools with well-established IB programs. Because mine sucked, and ruined the last two years of high school. I didn’t expect or want them to be the best years of my life, but I was hoping they wouldn’t be a stain of India ink on the script of my life.</p>