<p>Are there any really good, presitigious, IB boarding schools out there? I really want to be fluent in a foreign language by the time I graduate high school. Could this be done at a school like Andover or Deerfield, or should I be looking at IB schools?</p>
<p>I think I should really be considering attending Ashbury College in Ottawa, Canada for high school.</p>
<p>I'm so confused...</p>
<p>Also, would going to a private school in Canada affect my chances at American universities? I really want to go to college in the U.S., and I don't want this to affect it.</p>
<p>I'm not sure where the idea that you need an IB education to become fluent at a language has come from, but yes you can most definitely become fluent at your target language at Andover or Deerfield, or any other prep school out there. Some kids become near-native after doing summer exchange programs or SYA.</p>
<p>I thought that if you graduated with an IB diploma you were fluent.</p>
<p>Oh well.. I guess it's not that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Now that I know you can become fluent, or close to it, at Andover, then that's good enough for me! :)</p>
<p>I was only considering an IB school because someone told me that by learning a language at prep school, by the time you graduate the only thing you can do is read in the language.</p>
<p>Jonathan - At Andover from the first day of a 100 level class the language is almost exculsively the language you are learning. My teacher this year barely spoke English. As she was teaching us Spanish, we were teaching her English. By conversing solely in the language, you pick it up much faster. The main problem with becoming fluent is the vocabulary and some of the idiomatic expressions, but those come with time.
If you are good at the language, there is an accelerated program in most languages so you can start in 100 and finish 500 by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>If you want to go to a Canadian IB Boarding school, then I suggest you should either go to Upper Canada College or King's-Edgehill. I'm very familiar with UCC because the school I went to (St. Andrews College) were big rivals with them. Ok so, UCC is all IB as you probably know. Many graduates went to destinations like Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, and other Ivies. I think they prepare you a lot better than St. Andrews. And I think you should know that UCC has been sued numerous times these past 5 years for child molestation...just a thought</p>
<p>As for King's Edgehill, I know they have a Highland Cadet Corp., which is basically army training. But this can look amazing in your resume if you're involved in it. You can recieve many awards and qualifications like the National Star Certification. I know people who have been to Scotland for cadet training and recieve very prestigious awards from members of the Royal Family. No joke. So yeah, I dont really know the academics of the place but i sure know what the EC's are.</p>
<p>IB doesn't gaurantee you fluency in a language.
I'm in an IB school, and let me tell you, not many of the students leave high school speaking a language fluently.
It depends on yourself and how hard you'll work at it.</p>
<p>go to ibo.org- that;s the main website for all ib schools. i was in ib, and they did have some very good teachers, for ex. i was in IB anthropology, and it was great for relating all the ib concepts together to one application. also, it depends on whether u plan to do full diploma or just certificate or something. full diploma can be reeally stressful, its sort of like taking 6 AP classes at once, only harder. plus u have community service requirements and u have to write an 'extended essay' plus do theory of knowledge before getting ur diploma. lol ive heard all sorts of horror stories abotu what really happens to ib exams when they get shipping off for grading...</p>
<p>While going abroad is a great idea, the question is how.</p>
<p>I suppose maybe if you have a school that has foreign exchanges, but I would much rather just stick to one school in abroad for the rest of my high school career.</p>