If you want your kid to get any benefit out of an IB school they need to fall into one of two categories: 1) Pursue the full diploma, or 2) be high risk. Everyone else is ignored.

I graduated HS with an IB diploma overseas. I loved my experience and specifically looked for an IB school for my DS. The essays and the 4 hr exams (if they haven't changed) are intense, and would be terrible to suffer through if you can't score high enough to receive the diploma. The other portions, such as CAS (community/activity/service) and TOK (theory of knowledge) were what I was mostly interested in. The program tries to instill curiosity and a love of learning more than anything. All this to say- make sure that the program is a good fit for your child.

Anonymous wrote:I did the full IB diploma (I'm a parent now) and I'd love for my kid to have the same opportunity. I went to an Ivy, and after the IB diploma college was *easy*. I also entered with a full year's worth of transfer credit, so was able to get my BA in 3 years.

The IB program I attended was in a different state, but was also housed in an underserved/low-ranked high school. It was put there due to low-enrollment and the desire for the district to have more UMC kids transfer in to balance demographics. Wasn't an issue--if anything, I learned some very valuable street smarts and became much more comfortable with/knowledgeable about other cultures. My ES and MS were lily white and at my HS it was 90% AA and 10% white. It was eye-opening being "the minority," in a good way.

I’m an adult who did the IB and this was my experience 20 years ago. I was an average student at my private international high school (where even the dumb kids did full IB diplomas and nearly everyone always passed) and I got into an Ivy as well. I attribute my getting in to doing a full IB diploma. I got a full year of credit. I had no adjustment to college level coursework and it was generally a breeze. I later worked in admissions at my school and a full IB diploma was considered more challenging than an AP heavy courseload. It wasn’t common back then, but I would imagine piecemeal IB courses instead of a full diploma would be on par with a heavy AP courseload.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent, but IB in high school put me far ahead of my peers in a highly rated state university. Strong writing skills, but there’s a fair amount of philosophical/European style post-modern philosophical analysis (English class and atheory of knowledge) which annoyed me. I came in with 24 college credits. Can’t speak to AP as I didn’t have that option.

Just curious but why did it annoy you?

PP: It didn't annoy me enough that I would recommend against IB, I just wanted to point it out. Honestly I just felt like some of the English and History content was B.S. In English for example, rather than reading widely, in literature, in Senior IB English Lit I remember focusing on Burnt Norton (poem by T.S. Elliot) for over a month! And that time was spent trying to analyze the idea behind the idea behind the idea, and at some point it was just making stuff up (as far as what T.S. Elliot meant). Now this is just one example, and I may have had a teacher obsessed with textual analysis. I still remember him yelling "get to the idea level!" But I would have rather read more widely and discussed more literature.

I also think if you are a good writer you can somewhat sail through English and History IB on your strong writing skills with less content knowledge, whereas in A.P., content is king in the tests. On balance, my writing has served me very well in my career, so I can't really complain. But if a very post-modern/liberal/European/philosophical bent to learning bothers you, keep in mind that it is fairly present in I.B., whereas A.P. is a bit more content/fact based than theoretical.

I don't think you can go wrong either way but if you're really unsure, research the I.B. curriculum directly.

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Robinson, and I've only just learned about the IB program. I have a kid with crippling social anxiety who is good at math and tech but hates writing. The requirements for all the extracurriculars, service, and writing sound like he will almost certainly struggle. His elementary years have been miserable and I so wanted HS to be a good experience for him. With is anxiety, he doesn't want to transfer to another school away from who and what he knows. Why does FCPS maintain a program that only 10-20% of kids can finish, at the expensive of AP, which has much greater participation??

While getting the full benefit of IB requires participation in the diploma program, you CAN take IB classes a la carte, and get college credit for them. Your kid can take the math/comp sci/physics etc. IB classes at HL and otherwise stick with SL or Honors or Gen Ed classes for subjects that require more writing. Full IB program participation is equivalent to taking 7-8 APs which clearly is not most kids, even in AP schools. Don't get sucked into the simplistic vortex of negative thinking.

We are zoned for Robinson, and I've only just learned about the IB program. I have a kid with crippling social anxiety who is good at math and tech but hates writing. The requirements for all the extracurriculars, service, and writing sound like he will almost certainly struggle. His elementary years have been miserable and I so wanted HS to be a good experience for him. With is anxiety, he doesn't want to transfer to another school away from who and what he knows. Why does FCPS maintain a program that only 10-20% of kids can finish, at the expensive of AP, which has much greater participation??

Anonymous wrote:FCPS hoped IB would attract kids from other schools to the IB schools, but it actually often ended up just giving families in-bounds for an IB school the option to send their kids to a more sought-after AP school. It's not as obvious now as it used to be because a lot of schools are now closed to transfers.

part of me thinks it is purposeful because it give the parents who would be angriest and most vocal about having to send their kids to an obviously failing school an easy out

FCPS hoped IB would attract kids from other schools to the IB schools, but it actually often ended up just giving families in-bounds for an IB school the option to send their kids to a more sought-after AP school. It's not as obvious now as it used to be because a lot of schools are now closed to transfers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did the full IB diploma (I'm a parent now) and I'd love for my kid to have the same opportunity. I went to an Ivy, and after the IB diploma college was *easy*. I also entered with a full year's worth of transfer credit, so was able to get my BA in 3 years.

The IB program I attended was in a different state, but was also housed in an underserved/low-ranked high school. It was put there due to low-enrollment and the desire for the district to have more UMC kids transfer in to balance demographics. Wasn't an issue--if anything, I learned some very valuable street smarts and became much more comfortable with/knowledgeable about other cultures. My ES and MS were lily white and at my HS it was 90% AA and 10% white. It was eye-opening being "the minority," in a good way.

IB is marketed as a "school within a school" in FCPS and other jurisdictions but I guess you can soak up all that knowledge about other cultures in PE.

I don’t get comments like these. Exactly what is your point?

Anonymous wrote:I did the full IB diploma (I'm a parent now) and I'd love for my kid to have the same opportunity. I went to an Ivy, and after the IB diploma college was *easy*. I also entered with a full year's worth of transfer credit, so was able to get my BA in 3 years.

The IB program I attended was in a different state, but was also housed in an underserved/low-ranked high school. It was put there due to low-enrollment and the desire for the district to have more UMC kids transfer in to balance demographics. Wasn't an issue--if anything, I learned some very valuable street smarts and became much more comfortable with/knowledgeable about other cultures. My ES and MS were lily white and at my HS it was 90% AA and 10% white. It was eye-opening being "the minority," in a good way.

IB is marketed as a "school within a school" in FCPS and other jurisdictions but I guess you can soak up all that knowledge about other cultures in PE.

I did the full IB diploma (I'm a parent now) and I'd love for my kid to have the same opportunity. I went to an Ivy, and after the IB diploma college was *easy*. I also entered with a full year's worth of transfer credit, so was able to get my BA in 3 years.

The IB program I attended was in a different state, but was also housed in an underserved/low-ranked high school. It was put there due to low-enrollment and the desire for the district to have more UMC kids transfer in to balance demographics. Wasn't an issue--if anything, I learned some very valuable street smarts and became much more comfortable with/knowledgeable about other cultures. My ES and MS were lily white and at my HS it was 90% AA and 10% white. It was eye-opening being "the minority," in a good way.

Anonymous wrote:The percentage of kids graduating at IB high schools in FCPS not getting IB diplomas typically ranges from about 78% to 98%.

But it's almost always the "my kid did full IB" posters who show up on these threads. Go figure.

What there to figure? You don't think they are telling the truth? Weird.

The percentage of kids graduating at IB high schools in FCPS not getting IB diplomas typically ranges from about 78% to 98%.

But it's almost always the "my kid did full IB" posters who show up on these threads. Go figure.

My kid did full IB at Robinson and was well prepared for the selective liberal arts college in terms of writing and analyzing. I was very impressed with the program. The one AP Government class that was required seemed to be a lot of just spitting back information. The other kids who did the full IB diploma went on to excellent universities.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent, but IB in high school put me far ahead of my peers in a highly rated state university. Strong writing skills, but there’s a fair amount of philosophical/European style post-modern philosophical analysis (English class and atheory of knowledge) which annoyed me. I came in with 24 college credits. Can’t speak to AP as I didn’t have that option.

Just curious but why did it annoy you?