My ‘22 daughter got an IB Diploma with a 3.99 uw. She had a 33 ACT and was state champion as a debater. She did get in to Smith where she attends and loves it. She was waitlisted at 5 other schools she was in the top 25th percentile for on paper. I do think the IB classes helped her be ready for the rigor of smith, but I question how much it helped with her admittance. Maybe it was an awful year for admittance or her essays weren’t good enough, not sure.
The reason I bring this up is my ‘25 son is contemplating whether to pursue IB and not sure what to say. It’s a ton of work and the most critical parts fall right in the crux of college app being due. He has 3 APs under his belt and the school offers a alternative track that is hands on coding (he is a likely CS major). It’s up to him, but that seems like a better choice to set him up in the future.
How does the selection of IB courses (including which are offered HL versus SL) match up to his interests, and how does that compare to the non-IB selection?
There is an older document on the IBO website that seems to indicate IB Dip candidates have a better acceptance percentage at schools.
That being said, it’s very old, relatively speaking, and there are probably all sorts of statistical issues that come into play that I am not smart enough to identify. But, from my D23 who is pursuing it, I think it does help on admissions. But is it a silver bullet? Doubtful.
Personally speaking, I wouldn’t recommend my child pursue the IB Dip for the sake of admissions as it’s too much of a cr@pshoot as to how it affects odds. I had started a thread on the specific issue of how helpful the IB program is for doing well in college (not on admissions). The general consensus was that it was helpful for doing well at college/university.
ETA: Here’s the thread I started that I was referring to:
This is my view also.
In terms of whether IB actually helps with college applications, I am generally of the opinion that high school students should do something relatively close to nothing at all for the purpose of improving their college applications. I think that students need to figure out what is right for them. What level of academic rigor is appropriate for the student? What ECs make sense for the student? So far this approach has worked well for our family.
So, in terms of whether your son does IB or not: What is right for him? The track that includes hands on coding to me sounds like great fun, a good education, and appropriate for someone who wants to go into computer science.
If I were in this situation I might emphasize to my son (I do not actually have a son, but suppose that I did) that keeping up with his sister is a bad idea. Looking for the right path for him is the right approach. There are plenty of very good software engineers and plenty of students currently studying in top universities and in top graduate programs who don’t even know and never did know what IB actually is.
My kids’ school doesn’t have IB, but my understanding is that one of the main reasons AOs value it highly is the extensive writing that is required of IB diploma candidates. I would guess that differentiator would be less meaningful for a CS applicant.
Does he enjoy competitions? For CS I think something like USACO would also move the needle. I wouldn’t push IB as long as he he has a path to get into a good CS program. It sounds like he has enough AP classes to make it work.
The great thing about CS is you don’t have to attend schools like MIT or CMU to do well.
Summer programs can also be a big help defining your kids interests. Good luck.
'23 son who is wrapping up his IB diploma and currently in the application cycle.
For him it was a great choice as it challenged him in writing which, as a STEM kid, was his weak point. He also loved the “school within a school” as there are 39 IB Diploma candidates out of a class of 400. I don’t believe it helps much with admissions as long as a student maxes out their rigor at their particular school in one-way-or-another. For our son, IB Diploma was the only way to do that at his high school so there really wasn’t an option.
I do think he will be WAY better prepared for college than if it hadn’t gone the IB Diploma route. IB forces you to write and write, including long research papers… all of which are great skills to get under your belt before you show up at college. We sold the diploma as “college is way more fun than high school, so sacrifice a little free time in high school so you can kick ass in college and have more time for fun there!”. He drank the koolaid.
Tomorrow he finds out his ED1 decision. Did it help? Who knows!
Our suburban public high school offers both IB and AP. Parents are told that one is not better than the other for admissions. Students are encouraged to choose whichever suits them better personally. My S22 did do the IB diploma, and it was the best fit for him. I agree it was like a “school within a school” which was nice because his graduating classes was over 800 students, but there were only about 60 IB dipcans. One interesting thing was that almost all the IB students were girls, with only a handful of boys. This was in contrast to the AP track which was 50/50. That was just fine with my kid. He does feel very well prepared for college.
If you think your son would be best served by completing a rigorous, well-rounded curriculum, the IBD is a great choice. Personally, I love the IB because it provides the kind of knowledge and approach to learning and thinking that is useful for both the subject areas you never plan to study again as well as the ones you do. At most US schools, this will also check the "most rigorous " box.
With that said, if the schools your son prefers like students with more CS coursework than the IB will allow and your son wants more focus on CS now, he’d probably be better off cobbling together a schedule that will allow him to create a “pointier” profile.
The school DS attended offered IB and AP classes. Most of the high achieving STEM kids did NOT pursue the IBD so that they had more room in their schedules for those classes. Our school did allow kids to take IB classes a la carte, so to the extent they wanted rigor in a non-STEM subject, they could get it. (FL requirements were one of the main objections of this group). They did as well in college admissions as the kids who did the IBD and who generally had different interests.
You’re looking for balance between having a good general knowledge of subjects you’ll never study again and a chance to develop above average proficiency in what does.