Is IB worth it?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I applied for full IB but I'm having second thoughts. I don't know if I want to go full or partial. The reason I signed up for IB was so that I could take history and the sciences in higher level, which I could take in partial. I can handle the work; though my marks would be lower than if I didn't take IB at all. It's stress, which is already getting to me. I really don't know what to do, high school would be easier, and my marks would be higher, but easy isn't always best.</p>

<p>Does IB really stand out on applications like they say? Or will I lose out to someone who isn't in the program and has a 92% where I have 82%?</p>

<p>Any thoughts? I'm divided as to what to do. About half the people I asked said I should continue with full, and the other half said I shouldn't. I know it's my decision in the end, but some input would be really helpful. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>{My head is going to explode. I hate being sick. }</p>

2

<p>I guess it all depends on what you want to do and what schools you want to go to...
I<code>m a junior myself,and I have no experience in the admissions proceess, so I can</code>t give you an accurate reply..but I would say, go do it. There are so many advantages. Most colleges like it, and if you are aiming for top, elite colleges, then they expect you to take the most challening courseload-which in your case, would probably be the diploma,right...? (sorry if I<code>m wrong on this) I made the same decision as you and decided not to take full IB(I</code>m taking 4HL subjects+1SL, total of 5 IB subjects)I really regret not doing the diploma. I wasnt really aware of its advantages at the time, I guess I wasnt thinking about colleges that much and my GC was stupid so she told me it was okay. When I talked to an admissions officer later, she said that if its the toughest courseload, then take it. This is why I<code>m going to do an extra year or highschool(PG year, or 13th year) to fulfill the diploma. I</code>m thinking about applying to some Candian schools as well, so I<code>m sure this extra year wont be a waste...
Anyways, sorry for going on about my situation. I dont know how the situation you mentioned (full IB student w/lower grades vs. partial IB w/higher grades) will be percieved by colleges. But IMO, the full IB is impressive and many schools like it.Unless you are getting C</code> s or many B<code>s, then I would say continue. You can always work harder and get A</code>s. But if its stressing you out so much that you barely have time for extra curricualrs and such, then talk with your GC. Or better yet, maybe contact an admissions officer at a school you may want to attend.
Okay, sorry I<code>m like giving both sides or the argument and not making any sense at all..unless your GPA is really low, then I would say, keep it. I know how stressing IB is, but i</code>m sure its going to pay off in the end(I hope..) Good luck!</p>

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<p>O and this is one thing someone told me..but if someone else had the similar stats as you but that person did not do full IB, then you may have an edge over that person in admissions. This is just based on my imagination,so I may be wrong...correct me if I`m wrong!!</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying. Its nice to hear from someone in the program, who wasn’t brought in by the teacher from some other school, and can’t seem to say anything but great things about the program. I think I will try out the full. Best of luck with your plans, I hope they work out for the best. Oh by the way you did make sense :D. If you don’t mind me asking, what Canadian school(s) are you looking at?</p>

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<p>Thanks! Best of luck to you too, snow-wings. I<code>m sure you will do fine!
Well, I</code>m currently looking at Canadian schools such as McGiill, U of Toronto, U of British Columbia, and Queens. I really want to go into the science field, and these schools are strong in the sciences(but overall, they are very good, IMO) And not to mention the cheaper tuition compared to some U.S schools.. I wish I could get in! How about you, what schools are you looking at? And which country do you live?</p>

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<p>Thanks :D, I'm sure you’ll have a great chance of getting in to any of those schools. They are very good. And you must be a very determined person, considering you are going to spend an extra year in high school completing the IB diploma. I think that’s awesome, and for Canadian schools that are starting to give more and more special treatment to IB students, it will most definitely pay off. </p>

<p>I'm looking at McGill too; I'm also considering Waterloo and U of Calgary. I want to go in to a science field also, perhaps medicine or engineering or even astrophysics (that is if my math marks improve.) I agree tuition is lot less, which is wonderful! Oh yeah, I almost forgot I live in Canada.</p>

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<p>You are so lucky you are a Canadian citizen. I<code>m japanese, but I currently live in Malaysia.
Oh I really hope I can get into those schools! But my quarter grade for this term is just awful!I had a B in HL math last semester but now I have a C..hopefully, I can bring it up. I want the diploma but at the same time, I despise it-it</code>s so stressfull! I just hope doing an extra yr wont hurt my chances at some U.S schools.
Waterloo is an excellent school, especially for enginnering ( I think, am I correct?) Are you thinking of any U.S schools?
What IB courses are you taking?
I`m taking
Math HL
A2 English HL
A1 Japanese HL
Bio Hl
Physics SL</p>

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<p>I think you should stay with full IB as well. </p>

<p>I'm also in grade 11, and in full IB. Even though sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode with stress - I wouldn't have it any other way. It's so much better being challenged than being bored! Not to mention that the people in the IB classes at my school are on a different level than everyone else - they are mostly interesting, smart, funny, passionate people. </p>

<p>As for the university situation, I'm also from Canada, so I can relate. I don't have much interest in going down south - as it's too expensive and I'm not one for the current political situation. It is very true that universities here are paying much more attention to IB students - at UBC, U of Alberta, and U of Calgary (these are the ones I know for sure), they will favor IB students over non-IBers. The thing is, they love the diploma. Most school's won't consider you as much if you have partial IB - they want to see that you went through with the diploma. Also, as diploma students tend to be smarter than the general populations, they tend to have better ec's and marks than most people anyways - an automatic advantage. In Canada, if you look at Maclean's University Guide, most unis have an admissions average cutoff around 75-80%. Also, the average admissions grades are SO incredibly misleading, because people think that they can't go to Queens without a 95 (which is untrue because if the average is 89, there are people BELOW it). </p>

<p>Japstudent - you're right - Waterloo is one of the best universities for engineering in Canada. You might also want to look at UBC - most of the science-oriented IB grads from my school go there. </p>

<p>As for courses... I'm taking English A1HL, French A2SL, European History HL in French, Chem HL (<-- that one is required by my school grrr), Math Methods SL, and Bio SL. I'm writing the exams for Math and Bio SL this year (and they are only 2 months away!). My favorite class has to be English or History, and Chem is the hardest (and therefore worst because it induces the most stress!). We only take TOK in grade 12, and I am really looking forward to it!</p>

<p>Good luck in IB (both of you!) :)</p>

<p>ps. snow-wings, just a question - you mentioned you were considering U of C... are you from Calgary? I've met a few IBers from Calgary on the net - and most of them are from my school. Just wondering. PM me.</p>

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<p>To Japstudent12- Ahh that’s so cool! :D And, that also explains why on my time it says you post 3 am in morning hehe (Yeah I’m dork!)<br>
I became a citizen about 4 years ago it was nice.
I’m sure you’ll get those marks up, don't worry. IB is all about stress. I just hope it’s as helpful as they say it is in university. But don’t stress too much. I know all to well that too much stress will make you sick; I had to miss three days of school. {I’m stressed about math too. But I’m getting D’s in math (the days of getting B+ are only a memory <em>sigh</em>). That’s one of main reason I was considering dropping full, so I could focus more on my math.} As for that extra year hurting your chances for US schools have you contacted them and asked? And as cowgirlatheart said you are absolutely right about Waterloo.</p>

<p>Since my school had just started with the IB program we only have these for HL choices, and we can only take 2 IB level sciences.
History HL
English HL
Biology HL
Math SL (failing, but will pass!)
French SL
Physics SL (we had a choice between physics and chemistry)<br>
And I’m taking Chemistry in the summer though it won’t count as an IB course. </p>

<p>To cowgirlatheart- I agree with on a lot of what you said. It is better to have something with a little challenge rather than be bored. I love my classes (except math sometimes) I love the fact that we go so much more in depth, but the down side is the homework. It is true no gain without lose. And thanks :D.</p>

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<p>snow-wings: your not a dork, lol! but yea, thats why i post at crazy times...I<code>m sure Canada must be a nice place to live... but I</code>m worried about the winters up there, don<code>t know if I can handle the cold (Malaysia is warm all year! lol) And thanks for the encouragement! IB is soooo stressing.. and your right, I miss the good old days! I used to get A</code> s without much effort before. Now, I try SO hard but I can only pull off a B in some subjects. Don<code>t worry about your math, I</code>m confident you can do it!! But yea, the problem with IB is that it<code>s so hard to maintain good grades in ALL subjects...you can</code> t help but get a few B<code>s and C</code>s... (or is this just me..? lol) As for U.S universities, I haven<code>t contacted any admissions ppl regarding my extra year, so I don</code>t know. But I<code>ve heard doing a post-graduate year or extra year of high school is common- so I HOPE it wont hurt my chances..An admissions officer from U of Toronto, Queens, and UBC had just recently visited my school and I got a chance to talk to them(all the way from Canada to Malaysia~~~wow!) And they said that it was okay to do an extra year. So if my extra year will be a disadvantage, I</code>ll have some Canadian schools(which I would love to attend as much as U.S), IF I can get in lol. What is your easiest course for you right now? </p>

<p>Cowgirlatheart-A UBC admissions officer came to my school and I saw their offered majors! And they were really science orientied, like you said. They have many majors for science/medical field, which I liked. That is so interesting you are taking history in french!! I<code>m currently learing French at my school(as a beginnier) but it is so hard..it</code> s difficult for a Japanese person to pronouce all those nasal sounds and etc.(lol)</p>

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<p>snow-wing: I know exactly what you mean by the 82% Vs 92% thing... there's this girl that I tutor in my school for physics chemistry and math, and her GPA is about .4 higher than mine.. unweighted (there's no such thing as weighing gpa here) she's certificate, at least I think she is, and taking regular science courses. it makes me jealous to see her grades at the end of term and regret ever getting myself into the IB mess.
However, for most of the time I still think it was a good choice to take IB. altough the grades are definetly are down side, I did get to meet alot of interesting people coming to this new school and realize that how limited my old schools was ( especially in the science area) the program really offered me the chance to boarden my knowledge(whee ToK) and its been an amazing experience for me. hey what better way is there to learn stress management than IB ?
in the end even if I do not get in my dream schools, at least IB is offering a rather safe addmission to UBC and waterloo (32 total for UBC and 5 in all courses for waterloo?) so in a sense its all worth it .</p>

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<p>Don't do it! Every IB candidate I know regrets doing it.</p>

<p>You're so much better off with AP. You'll save a lot of time + money, too.</p>

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<p>Every IB candidate?
Interesting, because even though we like to complain about it, we really do like it! Well, some of us anyways. I don't think I'll ever regret taking IB.
Just my $0.02.</p>

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<p>To Japstudent12- Yeah the weather can be cold sometimes, I think it just depends on where you live in Canada though they all get their share of snow except for Vancouver they get rain. So unfair! (I love the rain.) Lol. It must be really nice to have warm weather all year round. Ahh the sun! It’s snowing right now and my plans to go out and play tennis with my friend are ruined. All the people I know say they were worried about the cold weather, I can’t remember if I was worried, though I was very happy to see snow for the first time lol. Everyone got use to it and you will too if you decide to come to a Canadian School, and if deicide to go a US school come to Canada for a visit. I agree with you, getting A’s and B’s was so much easier, now I actually have to try to get 85+ % in history (my favourite). I think my easiest class this semester is Career and life management [CALM] and Phy. ED though I’m not good at sports my teacher marks mostly on effort so it is easy to get high marks. In CALM we barely get any homework and when we do, it doesn’t take long to complete it. Its good that the extra year wont hurt your chances, for Canadian schools and I hope it doesn’t for US schools. How long have you been taking French?</p>

<p>To Lynda – yes, no better way to learn stress management than IB. </p>

<p>To wolfstarslasher- a few of my friends joined IB than quit at the beginning of this semester, and they seem happier but it just depends on the person.</p>

<p>To cowgirlatheart- yes I’m guilty of that. I like the program but complain way too much sometimes, mostly when I’m stressed and think it’s the end of the world. Wow your taking history in French, I’m envious my French is terrible.</p>

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<p>History in French and Math in French... but really, I've been in immersion since ECS so it's actually not all that bad because I'm used to them being taught that way. The only thing that sucks is that grammar is marked a lot harder on history essays and we always have lower averages than the English class. I think that the Bilingual Diploma (both IB and HS) will be worth it eventually though... :)</p>

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<p>Yes, absolutely worth it. Some of my friends are doing the same thing, sometimes I wish had joined them…too late now lol. But you must have a lot of work, though hard work does have a big pay off.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it.</p>

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<p>How does IB Mathematics HL compare to say, multivaraible calculus? What's the point of it if it cannot substitute for the math after single-variable calc? It seems to be one of those introduction to "all these math topics" not really in depth courses...</p>

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<p>I haven't read the other replies...</p>

<p>I am a senior going to recieve my IB diploma this May. Personally IB was beneficial to me because I'm recieving college credit for classes I won't have to take in college. Also here in florida if you recieve an IB diploma then one gets a scholarship called the Bright Futures which pays the 100% tuition fee plus $500 per semester to any florida public school.</p>

<p>I had conflicting feelings about IB also but I stayed with it because it challenged me intellectually and I was with people that had similar goals, we were hardworking and wanted to be successful in the future.</p>

<p>Some of the aspects I did not like about IB were that it isolated us from other students not in the program, which is expected since IB follows a different curriculum. Also I didn't like CAS. The concept behind it I understand but I felt that the Action and Creativity part was useless.</p>

<p>The myth that if you're in IB then you don't have a life is partially true. However it depends on the person...if you're a procrastinator, which IB students are notorious for, then it will seem like you don't have a life but you can have a life if you manage your time well. Oh you can do other stuff besides IB, for example I'm in various clubs and I play tennis. </p>

<p>I also want to pt. out that IB in 11th grade is a lil harder than in 12th grade because in 12th grade it's more lay back. However in 12th grade you do have slightly more work for ex. the internal assessments you will be doing depending on what your HL classes are (these aren't hard though), the TOK essay/presentation (it's not hard so don't worry), and the extended essay (this is meant to be lay back and you start this the summer before your senior year).</p>

<p>Overall I believe IB is worth it and it does make you look good on college applications because IB is the most prestigious program in high school recognized internationally.</p>

<p>P.S. I hope that this helps you in your decision to stay with IB. If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll answer them based on my knowledge and experience in being in IB.</p>

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<p>I hate IB, it was put into my school for people a grade level less then me yet i have to take AP/IB science courses. IB is stupid. Firstly you can only get college credit for IB Higher Level courses, which for sciences can take 2 years to get enough hours. Secondly you have to do those idiotic labs which make you do a bunch of useless writeups that are pointless and useless. In fact most of my science teachers aren't doing the IB labs anymore because no one wants to do IB. I guess its ok if you want to go outside the US but if your saying in the US take APs.</p>