How to prepare to apply to the IB at RMHS?

[Anonymous]

Our child is starting middle school. Child is in enriched classes and does very, very well academically. Child likes to be challenged and is able to manage and organize their time well. Child has thought to, in the near future, consider the IB program at RM. Are there specific courses child should be focusing to take in MS to make sure child has the requirements if child ends up applying to the IB program? For example, how many years of foreign language should child have? Anywhere I can see list of suggested or required courses? Thanks in advanced!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child is starting middle school. Child is in enriched classes and does very, very well academically. Child likes to be challenged and is able to manage and organize their time well. Child has thought to, in the near future, consider the IB program at RM. Are there specific courses child should be focusing to take in MS to make sure child has the requirements if child ends up applying to the IB program? For example, how many years of foreign language should child have? Anywhere I can see list of suggested or required courses? Thanks in advanced!

OP here, meant to specify: Child is currently in 6th grade!

[Anonymous]

I thought the answer was "get a high map-R". But then my kid applied and was rejected outright. They got into all three poolesville programs. Also they had higher map R scores than their friends from their MS who were admitted to RMIB.

So I've decided the whole process is very confusing. Maybe they were looking for something in their essay that my kid just didn't have. 🤷‍♀️ But they're going to Poolesville and seem excited by it.

[Anonymous]

no secret sauce OP. just make sure your kid is doing well at school and read a lot of books

[Anonymous]

My DD got into RMHS IB, and it's a sample size on one, I know, but FWIW:
1. We didn't really "prepare", as in - we did nothing special beyond her studying well at her home school (Cabin John). She didn't go any academic enrichment outside of school. She was an A student, but she claims so were at least 30% of her classmates.
2. She had very good, not great, scores on both Map-R and Map-M (~95th percentile with Map-M higher than Map-R), so one theory could be that they are looking for well-rounded.
3. We spent about a month slowly writing an essay (on weekends mostly, and we had ~10 revisions). She wrote it herself, but as parents we did challenge her and provided feedback.

She was admitted to both Kennedy and RM IB Programs.

[Anonymous]

My DD graduated from RMIB. Personally I would not recommend it. IB has gone crazy progressive and the instructional models are poor. She preferred the AP classes and the peer group outside IB for the most part. Just my two cents.

She did get into her top college choice and is doing well there, so I guess the outcome was good. Still, don’t think RMIb provides some wonderful education.

[Anonymous]

Slowly build up child’s dosage of antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds so by the time they land at RMIB they’ll be ready to be properly medicated to survive.

[Anonymous]

My kid just graduated from RMIB and her mental health was so much better there than in MS because kids focused much more on school and less on social drama BS and how you dress, etc. I think the peer group is one of the big draws, for the kids who like it.

It is a lot of work and there are some great teachers but also some not so great ones.

The process is now a little random since they dumped the Cogat so don’t let your kid get fixated on this. I don’t think there’s a specific courses to take or avoid. Just take the advanced level classes where possible and try to cultivate a love of learning for its own sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child is starting middle school. Child is in enriched classes and does very, very well academically. Child likes to be challenged and is able to manage and organize their time well. Child has thought to, in the near future, consider the IB program at RM. Are there specific courses child should be focusing to take in MS to make sure child has the requirements if child ends up applying to the IB program? For example, how many years of foreign language should child have? Anywhere I can see list of suggested or required courses? Thanks in advanced!

They must have 1 year FL to apply in order to be able to SL for the diploma senior year. 2 years is better- SL 11th or HL 12th. 3 isn’t necessary, but is fine also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated from RMIB. Personally I would not recommend it. IB has gone crazy progressive and the instructional models are poor. She preferred the AP classes and the peer group outside IB for the most part. Just my two cents.

She did get into her top college choice and is doing well there, so I guess the outcome was good. Still, don’t think RMIb provides some wonderful education.

[Anonymous]

If your child is at Julius West, they can join IB in 11th grade without any application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the answer was "get a high map-R". But then my kid applied and was rejected outright. They got into all three poolesville programs. Also they had higher map R scores than their friends from their MS who were admitted to RMIB.

So I've decided the whole process is very confusing. Maybe they were looking for something in their essay that my kid just didn't have. 🤷‍♀️ But they're going to Poolesville and seem excited by it.

Was math also higher than friends?

Does "higher" mean 98%ile vs 96%ile, or 95%ile vs 86%ile?

Only 100 or so kids get in, so they have to make some cuts "holistically".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child is starting middle school. Child is in enriched classes and does very, very well academically. Child likes to be challenged and is able to manage and organize their time well. Child has thought to, in the near future, consider the IB program at RM. Are there specific courses child should be focusing to take in MS to make sure child has the requirements if child ends up applying to the IB program? For example, how many years of foreign language should child have? Anywhere I can see list of suggested or required courses? Thanks in advanced!

Get a high 7th spring or 8th fall map r. 255+ is usually enough. They consider the higher of the two. Join clubs, volunteer, and write a good essay and you should be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child is starting middle school. Child is in enriched classes and does very, very well academically. Child likes to be challenged and is able to manage and organize their time well. Child has thought to, in the near future, consider the IB program at RM. Are there specific courses child should be focusing to take in MS to make sure child has the requirements if child ends up applying to the IB program? For example, how many years of foreign language should child have? Anywhere I can see list of suggested or required courses? Thanks in advanced!

Get a high 7th spring or 8th fall map r. 255+ is usually enough. They consider the higher of the two. Join clubs, volunteer, and write a good essay and you should be in.

Another parent here - my kid got a 257 map R which was higher than her friends who are going to RM. She was rejected. Got into the Poolesville programs and now is happy there. These kids who are high achieving would probably be fine anywhere, including their home school. But we like the more manageable size of Poolesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD got into RMHS IB, and it's a sample size on one, I know, but FWIW:
1. We didn't really "prepare", as in - we did nothing special beyond her studying well at her home school (Cabin John). She didn't go any academic enrichment outside of school. She was an A student, but she claims so were at least 30% of her classmates.
2. She had very good, not great, scores on both Map-R and Map-M (~95th percentile with Map-M higher than Map-R), so one theory could be that they are looking for well-rounded.
3. We spent about a month slowly writing an essay (on weekends mostly, and we had ~10 revisions). She wrote it herself, but as parents we did challenge her and provided feedback.

She was admitted to both Kennedy and RM IB Programs.

I've heard that well rounded is important. RMIB is frequently referred to as a humanities program but, despite its focus on analytical writing, that's not really the case. Plenty of STEM-focused kids there too, just not quite at the level of the hard-core (mostly) pre-engineering kids at Blair. My kid applied to Blair and didn't get in, probably because had little interest in Comp Sci, as reflected in coursework and activities. 99% in MAP-R and MAP-M and had a few minor awards, plus some interesting tidbits about intellectual interests in the essay. Spent one weekend on the application and otherwise didn't do anything special other than focus on academics.

RMIB can be a grind, with many kids gunning for Ivy admission.Even though DC currently has a 4.0uw/4.96w GPA and a 36 ACT in one sitting, convinced won't get into any top schools because thinks many classmates are that much stronger. Probably right as far as T-10 schools are concerned. But has found the cohort quite nice and collaborative overall. The curriculum is strong and engaging but DC is often sleep deprived, which none of us love. RMIB has been great in terms of academic rigor and preparation for college but I'm not sure it's been wonderful for DC's confidence in the end. That said, any elite school is going to be filled with kids like RMIB kids so in that sense it's probably better preparation than being in a less competitive cohort at the home school.