Second thoughts on IB?

[Ridapher]

So today, I was sitting in my Physics class, (IB of course) and I heard this girl say that she dropped the diploma because she wanted to avoid the stress Senior year...she is a straight A student, and I'm pretty sure she scored genius on the SAT. That being said, it made me wonder, why am I doing the diploma?

Some background:

I have 2 older sisters, one younger sister, and a younger brother. My oldest sister goes to community college (NOVA) and my other sister who is a senior, i believe she's going to go there as well. They are committed and motivated to school work; my oldest sister did IB certificate and the classes she took she got 6's and 7's.

But then she went to community college, and is transferring next year to a state public university. She got into pathway, and that guarantee's you to any university in VA after completion of 2 (or however many years to complete required credits for Pathway) years at NOVA. She could go to UVA guaranteed; she could go to William and Mary guaranteed! Of course Pathway has a list of colleges and unis, but most top ones in VA are on there...

SO what is the IB diploma's value???

Our family is also NOT financially, how do you say it, stable? Mom doesn't work, Dad is self employed. They aren't natural born citizens; the point: they don't make enough to supply for all five children.

And I don't want them to stress about it.

I know about FAFSA and financial aid and all other grants and scholarships...

but I don't want to work hard for something so easy to achieve y'know?

That girl in Physics got me thinking...

And I hate Spanish. It'd be heaven if Senior year was no spanish...or math

Advice?

Edited January 31, 2013 by Ridapher

[Emmi]

The diploma's value is what you want it to be. Some people see it as a way to receive college/university credits. Others take it for a challenge. Others take it because they need a certain qualification to get into college and they choose the IB.

Think about why you really chose to do the IB. Sure it will get you some credits, but different colleges only award it for some subjects at certain levels or higher. For example, at W&M (one of the schools I applied to since I'm from Virginia also) you have to score a 5 or better. I think UVA is the same way (and VT too, but I don't know for sure because I didn't apply to tech or UVA). Do you think you can score that?

We don't know all of the reasons why that girl dropped IB. She probably didn't want to deal with the IB-specific stress anymore and decided to take AP courses instead after thinking about what she wanted to do and figured it would be better for her. Taking AP is still hard and stressful. Don't decide not to do IB on the decision of one person who may have had other factors contributing as well.

Also you say guaranteed acceptance. Even if you get guaranteed acceptance into this program, you still have to apply to get into it, and I'm sure it's somewhat competitive. What happens if you drop IB and don't get into it? Then what? Also, your statement "but I don't want to work hard for something so easy to achieve y'know?" kind of bothers me. Getting into those schools you listed aren't easy, and staying in them is hard too. Do you want to take the easy way to get into these schools, or have an easy way through the rest of your college career? Well, there is no easy way. I'm sure in your program you have to maintain certain grades and meet certain criteria, and even at the community college you have to do that as well, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get into W&M, UVA, etc.

If you're worried about paying for school, there's a number of things you can do. You can apply for scholarships like crazy, you could take out loans, you could go to community college for a year or two and then transfer, or you could work for a few years and save up, and then go to a public university. If money's such a big issue, you could put off school for a year or so to save up. You could work throughout school to minimize your debt. One nice thing about UVA is that they pay 100% of your financial need. W&M isn't too generous with their aid (they don't offer a lot), and I think Tech's pretty good with aid too.

Just a heads up, you still should take math and a foreign senior year. Those schools actually encourage it to show the completion of a strong curriculum, and not taking math will make them wonder why you decided not to make your senior year challenging enough to be considered a good candidate. Having a slacker senior year = bad for those kinds of schools.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Emy Glau-ski

[Ridapher]

The diploma's value is what you want it to be. Some people see it as a way to receive college/university credits. Others take it for a challenge. Others take it because they need a certain qualification to get into college and they choose the IB.

Think about why you really chose to do the IB. Sure it will get you some credits, but different colleges only award it for some subjects at certain levels or higher. For example, at W&M (one of the schools I applied to since I'm from Virginia also) you have to score a 5 or better. I think UVA is the same way (and VT too, but I don't know for sure because I didn't apply to tech or UVA). Do you think you can score that?

We don't know all of the reasons why that girl dropped IB. She probably didn't want to deal with the IB-specific stress anymore and decided to take AP courses instead after thinking about what she wanted to do and figured it would be better for her. Taking AP is still hard and stressful. Don't decide not to do IB on the decision of one person who may have had other factors contributing as well.

Also you say guaranteed acceptance. Even if you get guaranteed acceptance into this program, you still have to apply to get into it, and I'm sure it's somewhat competitive. What happens if you drop IB and don't get into it? Then what? Also, your statement "but I don't want to work hard for something so easy to achieve y'know?" kind of bothers me. Getting into those schools you listed aren't easy, and staying in them is hard too. Do you want to take the easy way to get into these schools, or have an easy way through the rest of your college career? Well, there is no easy way. I'm sure in your program you have to maintain certain grades and meet certain criteria, and even at the community college you have to do that as well, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get into W&M, UVA, etc.

Just a heads up, you still should take math and a foreign senior year. Those schools actually encourage it to show the completion of a strong curriculum, and not taking math will make them wonder why you decided not to make your senior year challenging enough to be considered a good candidate. Having a slacker senior year = bad for those kinds of schools.

No, I wasn't planning on UVA or W&M...I was going for something my family can afford.

I don't judge uni's from ranking...I honestly don't care if its a competitive school or not...

And Pathway is a program that not only looks into academic grades but also along with it financial statuses...Not to offend my senior sister (the one also in Pathway), she has a 3.0 gpa with NO IB classes and only a semester of math during Senior year. Never did any extra curriculars, maybe 7-9 hours of community service. But she still got into pathway; the program they offer [Pathway] is generally not that competitive; our high school is one with ambitious students going for top UNI's, Privates, and Ivys...not much rely on Pathway...a handful of the students, yes, do try very hard for Pathway. But Pathway loves kids who are willing to go after the best education offered at the High School but not having the money to achieve ito further down the line.

And VA has other Public Unis: George Mason U, James Madison U, Virgina Commonwealth U, Mary Washington U...etc.

Btw, I meant to say no Math Studies And I look at the bigger picture: Will foreign language actually further me towards my career?

And I wouldn't necessarily call it "slacking" senior year considering I'm still doing the IB certificate; just without the CAS, EE, and ToK...and HLs and SLs.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Ridapher

[Sandwich]

No, I wasn't planning on UVA or W&M...I was going for something my family can afford.

I don't judge uni's from ranking...I honestly don't care if its a competitive school or not...

And Pathway is a program that not only looks into academic grades but also along with it financial statuses...Not to offend my senior sister (the one also in Pathway), she has a 3.0 gpa with NO IB classes and only a semester of math during Senior year. Never did any extra curriculars, maybe 7-9 hours of community service. But she still got into pathway; the program they offer [Pathway] is generally not that competitive; our high school is one with ambitious students going for top UNI's, Privates, and Ivys...not much rely on Pathway...a handful of the students, yes, do try very hard for Pathway. But Pathway loves kids who are willing to go after the best education offered at the High School but not having the money to achieve ito further down the line.

And VA has other Public Unis: George Mason U, James Madison U, Virgina Commonwealth U, Mary Washington U...etc.

Btw, I meant to say no Math Studies And I look at the bigger picture: Will foreign language actually further me towards my career?

And I wouldn't necessarily call it "slacking" senior year considering I'm still doing the IB certificate; just without the CAS, EE, and ToK...and HLs and SLs.

IMO what Emily said is correct. For US students, it depends what you want to get out of it. We're not here to persuade you to do the IB, persuade you to quit or otherwise argue with you. The whole idea of the IB diploma is that it shows you've tackled a well-rounded set of subjects to a high level, plus have done all of the extras. In the UK, certificates are barely rated as qualifications; it's all of the IB programme or nothing if you fancy going to University. I mention this not because I think you want to come to the UK, but to give an idea of where the value of the IB programme lies in terms of appealing to Universities, which is in its broad nature. You can't do the Diploma if you don't do HLs, SLs, TOK, the EE or CAS. Actually, you've got nothing left if you don't do those things.

I don't know anything about this Pathway stuff, but if your heart is set on dropping the subjects you find difficult in the belief that the pathway is definitely going to work out for you regardless of your personal effort and input, it seems pointless to me that we should sit and debate it with you.

[Ridapher]

I wasn't planning on doing Pathway or community college. I was just planning on going to a normal state University which my family can possible afford with grants/aids/scholarships.

Public Universities in my region know about IB and know that it's rigorous; but they also look into the other kids who aren't doing diploma. Yes it will definitely increase my chances, but is it worth it to stress every week about essays/commentaries/orals?

And I love IB, if i wasn't going to do the Diploma, I'd definitely do the certificate

When you said "You can't do the Diploma if you don't do HLs, SLs, TOK, the EE or CAS. Actually, you've got nothing left if you don't do those things"

Regular classes are just as qualifying for academic understanding and completion. The whole point is to look at a student who challenged themselves...challenge yourself to the extent you feel like you can give your best.

If its forceful, it's not fun.

For example, I love history, I find it easy and fun. Easy A.

Math on the other hand? I struggle so bad my teachers laugh at me (that's a joke). The diploma asks for well rounded, is it good for someone with weaknesses in subjects the Diploma REQUIRES, to take it?

And on a side note: I am not going to drop the diploma because some girl in my physics class is; that is hardly a good enough reason. I'm just gathering insights so I know what I'm doing is for the best.

We also had high school alumni come in last week and talk to us about the IB diploma; some said it was a great program to help prepare for universities, others said it was an effort buried in their past.