What are my child's chances of getting into the IB program?
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Anonymous
I ju I want to point out that the OP was asking specifically for a kid who isn't strong in math. Therefore, a discussion of which IB programs offer the most advanced math class is not important. Her child will not be taking those classes. She was wondering if IB is good for kids who don't love math. The answer is yes. There is a specific brand of dcurbanmom poster, sadly in the majority, who seem to post just to put others down. Whatever the topic, their house, their car, their kid, their golden doodle, they always have to be "the best." Everything not RMIB of Blair Smac is bad, and even those two are questionable. I have a student in a regional application-based IB program who is a senior this year in the first cohort of the regional application program. They are not good at math. It's been fine. They're taking it as a two-year SL. Love the regional IB. The classes are small, the teachers are dedicated and the cohort are nice. We just got the first round of college acceptances--no rejections yet. Please don't listen to the hyper competitive loons. I is great because you can select the classes your kid takes in depth and play to their strengths. Also, fwiw, I'm pretty sure Kennedy has more than one math HL class. All HL classes are two years, regardless of topic. |
Anonymous
Except you're comparing two things that aren't the same. You're drawing a conclusion that isn't true. Those schools "at the bottom" have yet to graduate a magnet cohort for the IB. The students at the schools who have so far taken exams for IB classes were entirely self-selected at FARMS schools with a high proportion of non-native English speakers. Whereas BCC, Einstein, and Rockville all have... how shall we say, white and Asian kids with money. This is all obvious to anyone with a clue, but you like to put other people down to feel better about yourself. No one is tying you to a train track and demanding you send your kids to Seneca. Maybe stop putting them down. Also, and again, this isn't rocket science: course catalogs change due to demand. When schools have a demand for a specific IB class, they have the class. Sometimes that means classes change from what's posted. |
Anonymous
Not the question that was being addressed, and not mentioned in my post. But thanks for engaging! |
Anonymous
Agree with the apples-to-oranges observation. Course catalog options still are a problem if a student at one school will have access to a class but a similar student at another school won't (due to the second not having a large enough cohort of similarly performing/interested peers). |
Anonymous
It is *tax* residence that determines tuition. Many BCC international families are non-US citizen diplomats who are not paying US taxes. So, they don't get in state tuition rates. UMD is cheaper @11K than our EU tuition rate of $15K. Out of state or private tuitions are far more than $15K unless you are getting some kind of merit or financial aid. |
Anonymous
This fact is true across the entire district regardless of IB program status. Not every school offers every class. Also some classes that are offered may not be held because not enough students register. |
Anonymous
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We love the IB program at Einstein. Our family is language-oriented, too. I double- majored in French and Spanish, and my DH double-minored in French and ASL.
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Anonymous
I don't know why class offerings is such a big deal. A college is going to ultimately compare your child with their peers at their school. They're going to check if your kid took the most rigorous courses available to them and how they performed compared to the students at the school. The fact that MVC isn't offered at your high school doesn't reflect on your child's ability and in fact I'm glad it isn't offered at my DD's high school. At the end of the day our goal is to get her into the college of her choice and she has better chances of getting there by being one of the top students at her school,which DCUM frowns upon. |
Anonymous
Oh, I don't know...maybe it's important because a student might want to take such courses and the availability of that being based on one's zip code is an equity issue? 
Separately, if there were two applicants with all things being equal from a "most rigorous available" stand, don't you think a university more likely would accept the application showing higher-level classes? Do they even get (or pay good attention to) a key of the most rigorous courses at each school along with applications so that they could make that judgement? |
Anonymous
DP but which part of don't you understand? |
Anonymous
Yes, counselors provide information about the school to the respective colleges and universities. Example : https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/einsteinhs/albert-einstein-hs-school-profile-21-22-1.pdf |
Anonymous
Well, what part of "all things being equal" don't you understand. Ex: Both Marta and Sandra are in the same %ile for grades/GPA at their respective schools, each have the same test scores and their essays, etc., rate out the same for a top-20 admissions office to which they each applied. Each has taken the most rigorous HS courses, including IB, available to them, but the difference happens to be that Marta's school afforded her access to IB Analysis HL while Sandra's did not, leaving her with IB Analysis SL (or maybe even just IB Applications SL). An admissions office might see the limitation, but they are likely to take Marta over Sandra because there is a differentiator in her favor. The solution may not be to force Sandra's school directly to offer IB Analysis HL just for her or just for an unmanageable few. It may be to provide alternative access to that course (e.g., virtual) or to do something else that would tend to offset the access issue. The point, here, is awareness to support family decisions vis-a-vis any current situation and advocacy aimed at a future state of reasonably equivalent educational experiences/opportunities for students with similar abilities/interests/needs no matter where the system provides those educational services. |
Anonymous
Marta is not a peer of Sandra. They will compare Marta with peers at her school, and Sandra with peers at her school. |
Anonymous
Says who? |
Anonymous
Yes individual kids would do the same at any of these schools because of their circumstances but all students have the same opportunities to take the same IB curriculum at any of these schools. |