<p>Is the IB program a good thing for schools to have?</p>
<p>I go to one of the top 10 pub. schools in California and we have no IB program to speak of. (My guess is that half the teachers are like,"IB, is that a new diet program?")</p>
<p>In my relatively short time on this site, the IB Program has come up a lot, and i just wanted some opinions whether it is a good or bad thing for schools to have.</p>
<p>It is a good thing, but since you already go to a top public school, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The IB diploma is pretty prestigious around the world if you are studying outside the US. In the US, there's always debate whether IB is better or AP is better. One thing's for sure, IB is a lot more work and there's a lot more riding on the line since your performance on 6 exams highly affects your chances of getting the diploma. As for me, I have only three more months of school till this party summer.</p>
<p>ty for the snappy reply (ooh new word of the day <em>snappy</em>)</p>
<p>Is the program valued higher than the AP's or equally?</p>
<p>Also, can you self-study them, like you can AP's?</p>
<p>Any more opinions are welcome</p>
<p>Is the program valued higher than the AP's or equally?
like i said, no AP student is going to admit that IB is better, and no self respecting IB student is going to admit AP is better.
Also, can you self-study them, like you can AP's? no you cannot self study for them.</p>
<p>Wow, you're on top of things...</p>
<p>I meant colleges, btw, for the value.</p>
<p>SO if your school doesn't offer the program you're basically out of luck as far as that option?</p>
<p>I'll say this and I'm out</p>
<p>I have taken/will have taken 4 AP's by my senior year with 4+ on every exam. I can honestly say that a 4 or higher on an IB exam is much more difficult than a 5 on an AP exam. </p>
<p>You will, without a doubt, come out a better student from IB because of the time management, thinking style, etc that comes with IB.</p>
<p>Material wise, IB is harder when it comes to HL classes, but SL is about equal to AP. Teachers also make a large difference when it comes to difficulty.</p>
<p>Don't have IB, don't sweat it, but if you do I recommend you go for it because you learn more--not because it looks better since right now colleges seem to shaft IB students with the only a 6+ on HL gets credit where a 4+ AP (EASY!!!!!) gets credit.</p>
<p>My son has been in an IB High School Program. It has most definitely been worthwhile. There are 7 IB classes required, and 6 tests. IB classes are college classes and with the full IB diploma, you enter college with 30 credits. In addition, the full diploma requires 150 CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) hours over jr/sr year; this has to be documented. Also there is an Extended Essay (4000-6000 word) on a subject of your choosing. Last, but I think very important is the Theory of Knowledge class; it is a 2 year college class of learning to critically think. Great class! The balance of his classes are AP. Admissions Directors place a lot of weight on IB curriculum. For a school to offer it, there are a lot of requirements and extra training for teachers, and for a student to choose the IB curriculum is "the most rigor." 64 Juniors started the program last year in my son's class, there are only 13 IB candidates left; it's a tough program.</p>
<p>Yup!</p>
<p>Teachers have ALOT to do with it. My school manages to get 35 out of an average of 40 juniors to stay and we have had 100% pass every year. As for ToK, it differs from school to school. Mine is crap and is only about 3/4ths of a year.</p>
<p>If IB is not a choice for you don't worry. It's not that big of a thing in the US. Where I live it was my only option for a challenging curriculum and my school encourages everyone to do the full IB program; they don't offer any APs. </p>
<p>IB is something you definitely cannot self study. It's just not possible. </p>
<p>If you have the opportunity great. If not that's fine too. American colleges don't recognize the IB quite like European universities do, they give it much less credit and often recognize it equal to AP (something that it most definitely is not) So IB is not that important in terms of admissions. </p>
<p>But I think in terms of college work it is a great preparation. The amount and level of work you do during the full IB program is comparable to a lot of college work. That I believe is its greatest advantage. After completing all my coursework (EE, TOK Essay, Internal Assessments, World Lits) I feel as if nothing would be a challenge. I learned great time management and how to write a great essay.</p>
<p>darn...makes me wish my school had it.</p>
<p>i kno i can use time management and essay-writing skills...</p>
<p>u know, IB doesn't necessarily improve either.. my 15 person IB class is roughly half and half - half came in good at time management and decent at writing essays. the other half didn't have either. almost 2 years have passed, and the same can be said for our class - the ppl who couldn't manage their time then can't do it now, and the people who could write well then also write well now, and vice versa. </p>
<p>it's a common misconception abotu IB - u can definitely pass by doing things the night before (besides maybe ur EE and CAS)</p>
<p>or math portfolios, or internal assessments, or lab reports, etc.</p>
<p>
[quote]
besides maybe ur EE and CAS
[/quote]
Apparently you haven't met the IB'ers at my school! Quite a few of them wrote the EE in one night. </p>
<p>From personal experience, portfolios, internal assessments, TOK presentations, English Orals, Group 4 projects, World Lit papers, TOK papers, etc. can be cranked out in one night. :rolleyes:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=151209%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=151209</a>
this is a good one for the debate on IB versus AP.....it begins in the middle so ignore the original question</p>
<p>I'm so jealous of my boyfriend. He did his TOK essay and both World Lits the night before they were due and also did his Extended Essay over the 3 days before it was due. He got an A on the EE and most likely got great scores on the other ones. It's so annoying for those of us who work hard way ahead of time.</p>
<p>My class started out with about 250 kids (in 6th grade -- called MYP by the IBO). I will graduate with about 40! By the way, that includes the 10 or so who joined the program in 9th grade. So out of the 250, we have 30 left.</p>
<p>We lost maybe about 5 over the course of junior year, no one has dropped since the start of senior year. We're somewhere around 40 now. Class of 2005 had a lot more kids drop junior year and even a few senior year.</p>
<p>we started with 16, lost one, gained one who was doing a year in romania, and then came back, and then lost one senior year. but the second IB class at my school (3 years ago) dropped down to half by 2 months into the program.</p>
<p>Just a clarification....IB courses are not college courses, and the amount of credit for HL/SL courses and/or the full diploma varies greatly from school to school. LY my daughter was accepted at one school which would have made her a sophmore based on the diploma, but is attending a school which only gave her credit for her 6/7's on three of her HL exams (the 5 on the 4th higher earned her nothing).</p>