Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good, academically rigorous school but, by design, not intended to directly compare to others. A huge majority of the parents have at least one parent that is not American. While for worldly folks, this sounds fantastic, the reality is that it's not the most welcoming community. To some extent, I understand. The ex-pat experience (whether business, diplomatic, World Bank or other) is unique and folks tend to gravitate toward each other. But, a great many of the "norms" of international schools pervade at WIS, including lack of parent involvement (foreign schools typically do not ask for parents to volunteer or heavily participate) and lack of philanthropy (same thing...and therefore virtually no endowment at WIS).

If IB is a major focus, there is no better option. If you are not considering it for a specific reason (IB degree, intense language focus, etc..), you might not be happy.

Are you a WIS parent, past or present? We were at the school for 15 years (last DC graduated last year) and I respectfully disagree that the community is not welcoming and that there is lack of parent involvement. As a parent you can be as involved or uninvolved as you want. There are a lot of ways to volunteer at the upper school. Some of the events that I participated in: Grill Team - every Friday, in all weather, a team of parents makes lunch for the entire middle and upper school students and teachers. There are four teams who rotate each week so you're on duty one Friday a month. I made a lot of good friends on Grill Team and we had a lot of fun working in the kitchen, at the grill, and serving the kids. I was the Co-chair of the annual auction for financial aid, which was a lot of work but very rewarding. My DCs were very involved in theater, and with every production, parents volunteered to feed the kids every night during tech week, or helped with costumes, hair and make-up. Parents can volunteer to organize the Spring Bazaar, Back-to-school picnic, fund-raising, etc. etc. For one of my DC's prom, we took pictures on the grounds of one of the residences of an Ambassador; all of the parents were there and we had a great time photographing the kids in the beautiful setting. The list of opportunities for parental involvement goes on and on.

As to the rigor of the US - the IB Diploma is no joke. The kids work extraordinarily hard and the coursework is tough. Many of the kids do a Bilingual IB Diploma which means they're taking both languages as Language A. Their second language, Spanish, French, or other langauges that can be arranged, are studied at the native level, reading novels and discussing literature and articles at the native level. They also have to write an extended essay, which is a year-long research project with an advisor - like a senior thesis. Yes, it is a very tough program that provides them with excellent writing, analysis, and critical thinking skills.

And for those who care, WIS has done very well in college admissions the past several years. I think you can find the admissions on their website somewhere. My kids are both in top 20 schools for which they were very well-prepared by the IB program.

OP - talk with actual WIS parents, attend the admitted student events, and get first hand information. There's a lot of WIS hate on this board and I'm not sure why. My DCs loved their time at WIS and still talk about how well they were prepared for college. They also comment that they can spot a fellow IB kid in their college classes within the first few days of class!

Anonymous wrote:Good, academically rigorous school but, by design, not intended to directly compare to others. A huge majority of the parents have at least one parent that is not American. While for worldly folks, this sounds fantastic, the reality is that it's not the most welcoming community. To some extent, I understand. The ex-pat experience (whether business, diplomatic, World Bank or other) is unique and folks tend to gravitate toward each other. But, a great many of the "norms" of international schools pervade at WIS, including lack of parent involvement (foreign schools typically do not ask for parents to volunteer or heavily participate) and lack of philanthropy (same thing...and therefore virtually no endowment at WIS).

If IB is a major focus, there is no better option. If you are not considering it for a specific reason (IB degree, intense language focus, etc..), you might not be happy.

Anonymous wrote:NP here also curious. I’m wondering how the lack of endowment plays out. Is it mostly related to facilities? Or is their staffing budget lower than comparable schools? Does the lower school subsidize upper?