Does a full IB diploma make a difference?

[Anonymous]

What about W & M?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about W & M?

Unfortunately, DC doesn’t like it.
-OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (HS class of 2022) did the full IB Diploma at W-L. Its not clear whether it benefited him from an admissions perspective, as he aimed really high with his applications and didn't get in to many places (though he did end up in a very good spot), despite straight A's through HS, the IB Diploma, and an additional 5 AP classes. He did not get into UVa. He has been very well prepared for college, however, and continues to do very well.

Ouch! I was afraid of this.

-OP

Thats hard to believe! If your kid was full IB at W-L with 5 APs and all As, then your kid was in the top 10 kids (not top 10 percent, top 10 people) that year. Just like my DS. Almost everyone in the top 20% who applied got into UVA. My DS got into 2 top 15 schools, UVA, W&M, and 2 U California schools, and his grades were just below your DS’s.

[Anonymous]

You can google IB acceptance rates at American Colleges… interesting results…. Here is one:
https://www.sbac.edu/cms/lib/FL02219191/Centricity/ModuleInstance/18035/IB%20Acceptance%20Rates%20at%20American%20Schools.pdf

[Anonymous]

I have two that completed the full IB diploma. One graduated from high school in 2018 and the other this past spring (2023.) We're in FCPS. They both were waitlisted at UVA but got into W&M.

My youngest had a 4.3 weighted GPA - applied test optional. Top 5% of his class - he actually earned the diploma. Less than 50% of the full IB diploma candidates in his class earned the diploma. His grades sophomore year were very low (one C in IB Chem, a B- in Honors Algebra 2) but that was also the year he was online for 3/4 of the school year. He also didn't take Physics, instead he took IB Environmental.

My oldest said he was very prepared for the rigors of college. My youngest adjusted well to his first semester in college and said that so far, it's not too challenging. Over break, he and one of his best friends were talking about the diploma. They both agreed that it helped with admissions and the rigor of college but were also a little disappointed that they didn't earn as much college credit as some of their college classmates who had gone to AP high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can google IB acceptance rates at American Colleges… interesting results…. Here is one:
https://www.sbac.edu/cms/lib/FL02219191/Centricity/ModuleInstance/18035/IB%20Acceptance%20Rates%20at%20American%20Schools.pdf

What year is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (HS class of 2022) did the full IB Diploma at W-L. Its not clear whether it benefited him from an admissions perspective, as he aimed really high with his applications and didn't get in to many places (though he did end up in a very good spot), despite straight A's through HS, the IB Diploma, and an additional 5 AP classes. He did not get into UVa. He has been very well prepared for college, however, and continues to do very well.

Ouch! I was afraid of this.

-OP

Thats hard to believe! If your kid was full IB at W-L with 5 APs and all As, then your kid was in the top 10 kids (not top 10 percent, top 10 people) that year. Just like my DS. Almost everyone in the top 20% who applied got into UVA. My DS got into 2 top 15 schools, UVA, W&M, and 2 U California schools, and his grades were just below your DS’s.

W-L doesn't rank kids who have a GPA over 4.0, so there is no way to know who are the top 10 kids. UVA seems to have a quota on number of kids they accept from a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (HS class of 2022) did the full IB Diploma at W-L. Its not clear whether it benefited him from an admissions perspective, as he aimed really high with his applications and didn't get in to many places (though he did end up in a very good spot), despite straight A's through HS, the IB Diploma, and an additional 5 AP classes. He did not get into UVa. He has been very well prepared for college, however, and continues to do very well.

Ouch! I was afraid of this.

-OP

Thats hard to believe! If your kid was full IB at W-L with 5 APs and all As, then your kid was in the top 10 kids (not top 10 percent, top 10 people) that year. Just like my DS. Almost everyone in the top 20% who applied got into UVA. My DS got into 2 top 15 schools, UVA, W&M, and 2 U California schools, and his grades were just below your DS’s.

I don't know where he ranked in the class, but I doubt it was top 10 kids. He had a 35 on the ACT, and was an Eagle Scout and a two-time captain for both club and HS teams. His HL classes included Spanish, Film, and History. His AP's included Spanish, Calc AB, World History, AP Gov, and Psychology. As someone else mentioned in this thread, they can (will?) only take so many kids from one school, and I suspect he just lost out in the numbers game. Still annoying to me, but its now water under the bridge.

[Anonymous]

How can an IB diploma affect admissions of you get it after admissions is over?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are considering college in the UK or abroad, you may have to wait until summer for your official college acceptance and scholarship info as many of these schools grant a contingent acceptance. But this can happen with AP classes taken senior year as well.

Maybe but a lot of unconditional offers are sent to students with very strong profiles

How about for McGill? Kid is dual citizen

McGill is relatively easy to get into for Canadian citizens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not valued very much at UVA. My nephew did not get many credits for is full IB diploma.

The value it highly in terms of admissions. Often the kids that get in from our HS are the full IB students.

Our IB director said that there are many schools that don't hand out the credit for IB classes like they do for AP -- that's a real problem if you want to/need to graduate early. But if you are on the 4 year plan anyway, why not retake the Calc class, etc and have an easier time of it in college rather than advancing through to the next course right away.

If your school offers the IB Diploma, completing that is the "most rigorous" program offered at the school and for highly selective colleges that want you to take the most rigorous program, not taking it would count against you.

This is correct.

That is a myth.

"Most rigorous" means AP/IB if available, not "tippy top of your already magnet program"

[Anonymous]

Face it, IB isn’t really intended to position kids ideally for admission to colleges and universities in the U.S. Good for European kids who take a gap year before attending some university in France or Switzerland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Face it, IB isn’t really intended to position kids ideally for admission to colleges and universities in the U.S. Good for European kids who take a gap year before attending some university in France or Switzerland.

Which is a shame bc I read recently in the professor subreddit that it prepared kids more than AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Face it, IB isn’t really intended to position kids ideally for admission to colleges and universities in the U.S. Good for European kids who take a gap year before attending some university in France or Switzerland.

People from my IB class only got into schools like Princeton, Yale, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Wash U, UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can an IB diploma affect admissions of you get it after admissions is over?

You're enrolled in the courses to complete the IB diploma and you've successfully completed the first half. Same way being enrolled in AP courses your senior year impacts college perception of the rigor of your course schedule.