Is IB good preparation?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I am a full IB Diploma Candidate, and am wondering how well this program prepares students for college. Aside from the time management issues many kids run into, is the workload managable? What about the actual class content (discussions, assigned readings, memorization, etc.)? I know each class differs, but I'm looking for a general feel.
I would LOVE to hear from someone who graduated with an IB diploma (preferably successfully), and am interested in their success at schools such as:
1. Harvard, Princeton, Yale
2. Duke, Wake Forest
3. William & Mary, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>meh. (I hope that helps)</p>

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<p>IB is the best pre college program in the world. College workload is less than the IB workload. There's no day to day assignments that get in the way (at least not as many), and all the papers you write in IB prepare you to write quickly, and well, at the level your professors will expect. There are stressful weeks in college where everything comes at once, usually at the middle and end of the semester, and the kids from IB are used to that stress and pressure, and know how to handle it and get their work done.</p>

<p>Discussions? If you have something to say, you speak up... if you don't, then save everyone the trouble and don't spew crap, and don't be the person who repeats what the teacher / professor says slightly differently like it's their own idea. Those people **** me off.</p>

<p>Assigned readings? I don't know what you're looking for here... you do the readings. And I like to stay away from classes that are heavy on memorization. I'm not so good at that. I like to apply things. If you're good at memorizing, you will excel in the memorization classes, if you're not, you won't.</p>

<p>I sleep more in college than I did during IB... significantly more.</p>

<p>I'm not making college out to be easy, most people get lower grades in college, especially at my school which is known for harsh grading.</p>

<p>I have friends from my IB class at W&M, Tech, UVA, Duke, and Yale out of the schools on your list, as well as Hopkins BME, McGill, Penn, and GW 7 year med program (among others). I have only heard that IB has prepared them well.</p>

<p>/IB Diploma May '04</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks so much soccerguy315! That's reassuring to hear- I also have an extremely high opinion of the IB program, and have heard it's great prep for college, but I'd only heard that from people going to lower tier schools. Thanks for your relevant response!</p>

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<p>I would have to say that a lot of the strength of IB depends on two things: the quality of the IB program at your high school, and the rigor of the college you decide to attend. My high school IB program was okay, but I don't think it was the best preparation I could have gotten. Much of it depends on how hard your IB teachers are, and how well they teach you to prepare you for college. In my case, I would have to honestly say that very few teachers in my IB really taught me in a style that would be conducive to college preparation. Many of them just gave busy work. As for my second point, I can speak because I go to a school constantly ranked in the top 5 by PR's "Students Never Stop Studying." I don't care how good your IB program is, at some schools and programs, you will always have to make an adjustment to a higher level of learning and rigor. I have not met a person at my college, many of whom have been in very good quality IB programs, who has not had difficult academic times. Again, this all depends on your school and the courses you decide to take. So yea, take my two suggestons to heart.</p>

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<p>the extended essay and some of your internal assessment papers are like beyond the level of most entering freshmen. seriously, the academic workload from IB diploma is great preparation for college! i also get more sleep in college. </p>

<p>basically, i find college (i'm at UCLA... i guess comparable to UVA on your list?) to be easier and a lot less stressful than IB Diploma! </p>

<p>a lot of people complain about IB. but if your primary reason is for good college preparation, then i HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing IB. i think that's one of the RIGHT reasons to take IB. (this assumes your school has a good IB program).</p>

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<p>i'm an IB diploma candidate as well. it is sooo stressful but i'm basically doing it to get into college and get a scholarship. however, this thread has been rather motivating. :)</p>

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<p>I'm a freshman at Duke and an IB Diploma grad. The IB program was incredible prep for college, although I didn't know it at the time. Yes, even ToK comes in useful, believe it or not.</p>

<p>The subject matter prepares you for college, but the extra perks of the IB program prepare you even more, IMO. For example, we had to do a 10 min presentation for my writing class the other day. Most students in the class freaked out, spent hours on it, and ended up getting an ok grade. I realized the presentation was nothing compared to the IB English Oral, spent 10-20 min prepping for it, and aced my presentations. In another example, the weekly ToK papers I had to write have made the 2-3 page papers I have to write for most of my classes seem really easy. </p>

<p>I was always told the senior year of IB is harder than your freshman year of college, although I didn't believe it. Well, I do now. :)</p>

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<p>wow. this is so encouraging. i'm writing my EE right now. warblersrule86, did you get any credits because of IB?</p>

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<p>Yes, I got credit for:
Biology HL and AP Biology
Chemistry HL and AP Chemistry
History HL
AP English Lit (took IB English)
AP Psychology (took IB Psych)
AP Physics C
AP Calculus BC
AP Env. Science</p>

<p>Math Methods SL, Psychology SL, German SL, and English HL (5) didn't get me credit. Luckily my school paid for all of my exams. :)</p>

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<p>wow impressive.
the colleges im applying to give me credit if i get a 5. :D you must be very smart to have gotten 6 and 7 in those HLs. hopefully i will get credit for history HL and english HL. i wonder if they'll give me credit for spanish HL too.i take biology SL and i find it hard! i take math methods SL as well and it's my hardest subject.</p>

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<p>a IB preparation is suppose to be "standarized" but i know of specific high school IB programs that are stronger than others...it all depends on the teacher and teh class and how well you learn the course material, regardless of how well u do on the actual test....its similar to an AP calculus class....u can learn just enough calculus to do well on the AP exam or you can learn an unbeliable amount of calculus very similar to a hard college calculus class. you can have the teacher give you questions similar to the ones on teh AP exam in order to teach towards the test or you can have a teacher who will give you questions where you have to apply the calculus knowledge that you have but really forces you to think for yourself to figure out the problem instead of merely regurgitating facts so my point is that even though IB programs are mostly very good, all an IB diploma actually says is that you passed a certain number of tests produced by the IB peoples, it does not say anything about the type of education and preparation that you received. the type of education and preparation that you received is dependent on the teacher.</p>

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<p>spongebobspongebob, that was dead on :)</p>

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<p>tiy, im flattered</p>