So my eldest son is now in grade 10, he’s on the headmaster’s list, plays elite baseball and wants to do IB next year. He’s worried that if his grades fall, it may mess up his chances for good schools. He has 50% blood quantum, connected to our culture and heritage. Wondering if this is worth the risk?
Most student’s grades decline slightly junior/senior year. If they don’t, even marginally, one has to wonder about grade inflation. If they don’t decline a lot, he should be in good shape. Most applicants to elite schools have high grades while doing time-consumings ECs like elite/club sports. How it impacts your kid is something none of us know.
If he will be doing the IB diploma program, schools seem to value the rigor of the program. This IBO document is now a bit old, from 2011, but if you look at p. 19, it includes some interesting statistics regarding the acceptance rates for IB diploma students vs. others: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/recognition/dpdestinationsurveyus.pdf Our S19 elected to attend an IB school from grade 10 and completed the diploma program, while also running track and playing soccer. He is not always a headmasters list type student, but he made it through in good shape and had very good results in the admissions process. He’s a first-year at Denison now, and he has found that the IB program, with its emphasis on research and writing prepared him very well for college-level study. I think the biggest issue with IB for many is the fact you need to commit to the diploma classes for two years, so you do have to narrow down a bit.
Thanks for the link, I am hoping he gets into a school where he can play ball too! He’s working very hard and I am doing my best to find out info for him because we don’t have any extra money to ‘package’ him. Hope I can guide him well this next while!
Maybe take a look at Denison, strong baseball (wonderful sports program and facilities overall) and good merit money.