IB - Real world opinions/feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per my RMIB kid, it's a ton of work, but not particularly hard. DC is thinking it may not be worth it for a lot of kids, and is telling their younger sibling to not do it.

I have a kid starting the RMIB next year. Why does your DC not recommend it for his/her younger sibling? We debated about it a ton, and are not sure how much it will be worth it.

For our kids it was worth it - after undergrad at umd, one got PhD in engineering from MIT and second one is in t-20 medical school. Yes it’s not easy but if your child is capable, I’d strongly recommend it

But you can easily get into UMD without IB. Tons of MCPS students go to UMD. So what was the point of all the work for IB? It didn't get her into MIT and med school. UMD did.

PP you were responding to. Education is like building a high rise building, you can't build upper floors without strong foundation/lower floors. Each segment of education (ES/MS/HS/College/beyond) is built based on the foundation your kids worked on at a lower level. Yes, my kids got into post college education "from" UMD, but they are the first to tell you that they wouldn't be there without strong lower education before college. For us, anyway, RM was a critical part of that building process. You can't compartmentalize education. They are like sausages with many connected links.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends where they do it. BCC - total waste of time, RMIB used to be prestigious but has gone down the tubes.

Lycee Rochambeau - probably your best bet

Oh, hey! More private school recruiting!

Well my own kids go to Whitman, that's just my opinion on the IB opportunities locally.

So you really have no basis for the statement.

Yes actually I do. I did the IB in England and know what is missing from the programs here that I mentioned and the one that I believe is good. I investigated them thoroughly for our kids only a couple of years ago.

Is my interview over now, sir?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends where they do it. BCC - total waste of time, RMIB used to be prestigious but has gone down the tubes.

Lycee Rochambeau - probably your best bet

Oh, hey! More private school recruiting!

Well my own kids go to Whitman, that's just my opinion on the IB opportunities locally.

So you really have no basis for the statement.

Yes actually I do. I did the IB in England and know what is missing from the programs here that I mentioned and the one that I believe is good. I investigated them thoroughly for our kids only a couple of years ago.

Is my interview over now, sir?[/quote]

LOL Humor is not acceptable. Beating will continue until morale improves!!

[Anonymous]

My kid is in an IB program at our home school. Not test in. She had a 4.0 before junior year. I don’t think her education through tenth grade prepared her for the writing in junior year IB. She’s prone to anxiety and it’s been a bad fit. In retrospect I wish we had done private tutoring in writing before her starting the IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen the comment before that BCC’s IB is a waste of time and I disagree.

That said what gives me pause is you saying your kid is science focused. I am not sure IB is great for science because the higher level classes are 2 years and the whole “depth vs breadth” thing (to the extentyou think IB is successful at that) seems to fit better for humanities.

I am not a supporter of IB, but your reasoning on science is flawed. Kids in high school need to learn science skills and basic science background. If they study one branch of science more deeply, that is OK (given that you've taken the Intro level for at least two other sciences). Whatever their high school courses, they are not ready to skip any science that will be in their major.

[Anonymous]

MIT grad with a science PhD here. I did the IB diploma and felt it prepared me very well for MIT. In fact, science is mostly writing the higher up you get. Strong written skills are very important. It strengthen my weaknesses going into college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per my RMIB kid, it's a ton of work, but not particularly hard. DC is thinking it may not be worth it for a lot of kids, and is telling their younger sibling to not do it.

I have a kid starting the RMIB next year. Why does your DC not recommend it for his/her younger sibling? We debated about it a ton, and are not sure how much it will be worth it.

For our kids it was worth it - after undergrad at umd, one got PhD in engineering from MIT and second one is in t-20 medical school. Yes it’s not easy but if your child is capable, I’d strongly recommend it

But you can easily get into UMD without IB. Tons of MCPS students go to UMD. So what was the point of all the work for IB? It didn't get her into MIT and med school. UMD did.

If you only are thinking of it as a ticket to one college or another then it is not worth it. If you are interested in an education standard beyond the one MCPS provides especially in terms of writing, then you should consider it.

Thanks for this.

Not the PP. My kid is attending the RMIB. The MCPS writing curriculum has been abysmal so far through a non-Magnet MS. (Was better in the CES) Hoping that the RMIB will help her become a stronger writer to prepare her for whatever she chooses to pursue in college. Not worried about whether she ends up at UMD or somewhere more ‘prestigious’.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends where they do it. BCC - total waste of time, RMIB used to be prestigious but has gone down the tubes.

Lycee Rochambeau - probably your best bet

Oh, hey! More private school recruiting!

Well my own kids go to Whitman, that's just my opinion on the IB opportunities locally.

So you really have no basis for the statement.

Yes actually I do. I did the IB in England and know what is missing from the programs here that I mentioned and the one that I believe is good. I investigated them thoroughly for our kids only a couple of years ago.

Is my interview over now, sir?

Not the original interrogator, but I’m still not sure what you think the differences are? Aren’t all IB students following the same curriculum and passing the same exams based on the same criteria? If they pass the exams, wouldn’t that demonstrate they’d learned the material to the same high standards? I get that the instructors may vary, but if they’re prepared for the exams, what does it matter where or how they learned the material? I mean, that’s kind of the point of standardized exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per my RMIB kid, it's a ton of work, but not particularly hard. DC is thinking it may not be worth it for a lot of kids, and is telling their younger sibling to not do it.

I have a kid starting the RMIB next year. Why does your DC not recommend it for his/her younger sibling? We debated about it a ton, and are not sure how much it will be worth it.

For our kids it was worth it - after undergrad at umd, one got PhD in engineering from MIT and second one is in t-20 medical school. Yes it’s not easy but if your child is capable, I’d strongly recommend it

It sounds like the PhD from MIT and T-20 med student are highly driven individuals at their core. I don't think RMIB did anything "extra". I think they had that "extra" to begin with, which is why they were accepted to and successful with RMIB.

Also worth pointing out that these students likely graduated from MCPS 6-8+ years ago and that MCPS has changed a lot since then.

[Anonymous]

I think OP is asking about a school where anyone can opt into the IB curriculum for 11th and 12th grade. I'm not sure the examples from RMIB, which is a test-in rigorous magnet, are comparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends where they do it. BCC - total waste of time, RMIB used to be prestigious but has gone down the tubes.

Lycee Rochambeau - probably your best bet

Oh, hey! More private school recruiting!

Well my own kids go to Whitman, that's just my opinion on the IB opportunities locally.

So you really have no basis for the statement.

Yes actually I do. I did the IB in England and know what is missing from the programs here that I mentioned and the one that I believe is good. I investigated them thoroughly for our kids only a couple of years ago.

Is my interview over now, sir?

And what did your investigation find that the IBO missed when they reviewed MCPS's authorization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is asking about a school where anyone can opt into the IB curriculum for 11th and 12th grade. I'm not sure the examples from RMIB, which is a test-in rigorous magnet, are comparable.

The IB curriculum and exams are the same, though, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per my RMIB kid, it's a ton of work, but not particularly hard. DC is thinking it may not be worth it for a lot of kids, and is telling their younger sibling to not do it.

I have a kid starting the RMIB next year. Why does your DC not recommend it for his/her younger sibling? We debated about it a ton, and are not sure how much it will be worth it.

For our kids it was worth it - after undergrad at umd, one got PhD in engineering from MIT and second one is in t-20 medical school. Yes it’s not easy but if your child is capable, I’d strongly recommend it

It sounds like the PhD from MIT and T-20 med student are highly driven individuals at their core. I don't think RMIB did anything "extra". I think they had that "extra" to begin with, which is why they were accepted to and successful with RMIB.

Also worth pointing out that these students likely graduated from MCPS 6-8+ years ago and that MCPS has changed a lot since then.

As their parent I disagree (and I am sure they would too) but I am not going to counter argue hypothetical case. I also know MCPS has changed a lot (sadly) but RM/IB's performance hasn't dropped that much? Am I wrong on that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends where they do it. BCC - total waste of time, RMIB used to be prestigious but has gone down the tubes.

Lycee Rochambeau - probably your best bet

Oh, hey! More private school recruiting!

Well my own kids go to Whitman, that's just my opinion on the IB opportunities locally.

So you really have no basis for the statement.

Yes actually I do. I did the IB in England and know what is missing from the programs here that I mentioned and the one that I believe is good. I investigated them thoroughly for our kids only a couple of years ago.

Is my interview over now, sir?

Not the original interrogator, but I’m still not sure what you think the differences are? Aren’t all IB students following the same curriculum and passing the same exams based on the same criteria? If they pass the exams, wouldn’t that demonstrate they’d learned the material to the same high standards? I get that the instructors may vary, but if they’re prepared for the exams, what does it matter where or how they learned the material? I mean, that’s kind of the point of standardized exams.

Sure. Now compare the results and when I say results I mean for the kids who actually achieve an IB diploma, not those at BCC who took just one IB class mixed in with regular classes in their 11th grade.

[Anonymous]

Genuinely curious, is the IB program a farce at BCC? Earlier post said some can take just one IB class, is that true? What’s typical of a true IB?