<p>The summer medical research internship at the university is 40hrs/wk. (biomedical engineering/neuroscience) She doesn’t want to leave this opportunity because she was selected from 625 applicants.
During the school year and into the summer my daughter volunteers at the local hospital interacting with elderly care patients. (6th day) She will have more than enough CAS hours for graduation. </p>
<p>Overall my concern is balance. In speaking with the IB advisors, and calling a few college admissions offices I am trying to help my daughter decide what best suits her circumstance. (there is no comparison with friends) Every student is unique in how much workload they can handle. I feel it is better to have less on your plate and do the things well then to try 10 things and be mediocre in them. (or burnout)</p>
<p>Ideally if the summer project could also be used for the EE that would be great but I believe between the EE rubric and university publication and copyright rules it seems less likely. The 7th day (day of rest) was to be a day to work on college applications, review some SAT material if she wanted to take the test once more in the fall, and look into scholarship applications. I feel she is so caught up with the IB Diploma requirements that there is no room for taking classes for career exploration or interest. (or to just take a fun class) All I hear is IB acronyms. (IA, TOK, EE…) If she does the certificate she can focus more on quality of her work and being wellrounded. Perhaps work to improve the g.p.a or higher SAT score. Be involved in activities she is passionate about. There would be less pressure and stress and she can focus on writing quality application essays. This would not really any time over the summer for college visits or a vacation. (which are important too) </p>
<p>When the students were recruited for the IB Diploma program I honestly don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into or what the expectations would be.
I feel it is harder then AP because it is so writing intense and then the IB rubric (seems regimented)which is a mystery to me having done AP myself. Also if a student needs help with an AP class there are books and tutors however with IB there are no books that can be purchased on Amazon and fewer IB tutors. Personally I feel IB is more rigorous than AP (though I maybe wrong) but colleges gives each program equal value. In fact I feel the students doing AP probably earn more college credits than IB Diploma candidates.
Simply because AP is more recognized at universities. Some people have never heard of the IB program. </p>
<p>Given all this, part of her wants to go for the diploma because she feels she has worked too hard to give up now. She wants to graduate on stage with that honor and sense of accomplishment. On the other hand there is additional time management needed and more stress to deal with. So it is a tough decision. I want her to have some fun memories of high school. Junior prom is coming up and it seems the IB diploma candidates have so much on their plate that many are planning not to attend. </p>
<p>Overall my concern is her wellbeing. I wanted her to be challenged but at the same time have some recovery time over the summer because fall will be hectic. Fortunately she gets proper sleep. She doesn’t procrastinate and goes to bed at a reasonable hour completing all school assignments.</p>