Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above is incorrect. Students going for the full IBD can easily take two IB sciences for points on their IB points totals (24-45 points is a pass) by substituting the arts requirement (music, visual arts, theater, film) for a second science. That's been an option with IB for more than 20 years.

They can even take a 3rd science as a 7th IB subject is they're so inclined. Plenty of IB students also take 1, 2 or 3 AP science exams, or maybe Cambridge Intl GSCE, AS-Level or A-Level science exams.

Are the A-level science exams required for most British universities?

. No, look up admissions requirements on British univ web sites. They spell out the exam results they’re looking for. IBD works fine, it’s a common curriculum in the UK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

When I was in high school, my teachers did it by taking the time at home in the evenings and over weekends. We didn't get them back the next day and term papers of course took weeks to get back. But that's how the teachers did it. They spent extra hours outside of the regular office hours, just like many other professionals continue to work beyond their 40 hour week. It, unfortunately, is part of the job - and it isn't every week throughout the school year. It isn't even throughout the whole calendar year - like it is for many other professionals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

That’s exactly how it worked at my mediocre public high school 25 years ago. Somehow the teachers made it work.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

And yet, so many are hired and working as engineers....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

That’s exactly how it worked at my mediocre public high school 25 years ago. Somehow the teachers made it work.

College expectations and acceptance was radically easier 25 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

That’s exactly how it worked at my mediocre public high school 25 years ago. Somehow the teachers made it work.

Well then, I guess I am wrong. Thank goodness you pointed that out. Your argument about how it used to be surely is convincing. They all know how to write, what am I talking about?

Anonymous wrote:Above is incorrect. Students going for the full IBD can easily take two IB sciences for points on their IB points totals (24-45 points is a pass) by substituting the arts requirement (music, visual arts, theater, film) for a second science. That's been an option with IB for more than 20 years.

They can even take a 3rd science as a 7th IB subject is they're so inclined. Plenty of IB students also take 1, 2 or 3 AP science exams, or maybe Cambridge Intl GSCE, AS-Level or A-Level science exams.

Are the A-level science exams required for most British universities?

Above is incorrect. Students going for the full IBD can easily take two IB sciences for points on their IB points totals (24-45 points is a pass) by substituting the arts requirement (music, visual arts, theater, film) for a second science. That's been an option with IB for more than 20 years.

They can even take a 3rd science as a 7th IB subject is they're so inclined. Plenty of IB students also take 1, 2 or 3 AP science exams, or maybe Cambridge Intl GSCE, AS-Level or A-Level science exams.

IB STEM classes may be great. But the IB diploma program is an impediment to taking more than one science topic. So you can take more bio, more Chem, or physics for 2 years. But not both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

That’s exactly how it worked at my mediocre public high school 25 years ago. Somehow the teachers made it work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

The #1 complaint of recent APS college students is that they are ill prepared in writing. The fact is that APS teachers have 25 kids in a class X 4? or 5? periods a day. What if they assign a three page paper, that’s what 300 pages? How can s/he engage in real editing? Any back and forth? Any revisions? Unrealistic.

Critical thinking skills expressed in written form, edited, revised, etc are not being taught. IB has forced it on students due to the program itself, but it’s why many pull for private as well or try desperately to get into HB for the teacher/student ratio.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.

One has to laugh at the suggestion that you're going to suck at writing unless you enroll in some over-hyped IB program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YHS and W&L is choosing between two different but very good schools. There’s no advantage to a student to attending one or the other FOR PURPOSES OF GETTING INTO COLLEGE. There are significant differences that can be described generally as: at W&L, easier to make a sports team, more diverse, IB program offered, and your distance to school will vary depending on where you live. I’m sure others will list other things. People have different preferences and your child may have vastly different experiences which would matter to their academic performance. But UVA accepts the exact same number for each school every year and elite acceptances are the equivalent. I suspect YHS does better for middle/bottom of class due to socioeconomic differences but I don’t know.

As WL rises in size to 3000 students, will sport team access shrink?

W-L is growing to 2700. That’s the capacity APS planned for with the addition. Sports teams are easier to make at W-L vs Yorktown but still competitive within the district and occasionally region and state depending on the sport. There are also plenty of no cut varsity sports and new ones like ultimate frisbee. Crew (rowing) at W-L is still no cut. Same with wrestling, track, swim / dive, etc. Obviously basketball, softball, baseball, etc will always have cuts. In sum, I wouldn’t worry about sports access.

Hopefully spots on highly desired teams will grow with the size of the student body. Big high schools where I grew up had Varsity, JV, sophomore, and freshman basketball teams. Good freshman and sophomores could play up, but it did create more spots for more kids to play.

Not happening. There isn’t enough field/gym space as it is.

That’s not true. There’s plenty field space on site. Both directly adjacent to the school and across the street at Quincy which is APS owned. And the new W-L addition included a new small gym space and a new, much larger weight room. W-L’s gym is one of the largest in Northern Virginia, which is why the VHSL often hosts regional athletic games there. Same with the school stadium— it’s one of the largest in Northern Virginia.

Yorktown is the only school that really has a field space shortage given its size and cramped site.

I can see that the Yorktown field space availability is an issue, but W-L's really isn't that much better. You would think that there's plenty of field space just looking at the facilities, but it really isn't true. In the spring, the boys and girls soccer and lacrosse teams all share the turf field and the auxiliary (grass) field. This means practice times are staggered throughout the season. Once in the season, the turf field is not available on game nights. Combine that with the fact that the county ALSO uses the fields for rec and sports programming and it becomes problematic. I'm sure YHS has the same problem.

It would be great if the APS high schools could create freshman teams for boys/girls soccer (the teams are extremely competitive) but I can't see that happening with the larger county-wide demand for space.

Field space has always been an issue. Back when my parents were in high school in the 60s, when W-L actually was 3,000 plus students, APS planned with Arlington County to condemn all the houses on the blocks just west of W-L all the way to N Glebe Rd to build state of the art athletic fields. That plan was scuttled when the student population started to go down and the neighbors protested.

More recently (about 15-20 years ago?), the County planned along with APS to convert the “passive park” portion of Quincy Park with shade trees and a playground into more sports fields. Parents were on board but some citizens decried the loss of Arlington’s “Central Park” to more lighted fields. So that plan was blocked.

In Fairfax County and Loudon County, the parks departments built large sports parks which help with overflow issues from school and sports league demands. School systems typically don’t build that many fields on site so they depend on County run fields and facilities. In fact, in FCPS the high schools don’t even have swimming pools so they use county run facilities. In Northern VA and DC I think DCPS, APS, and Prince William schools have pools in the schools. Maybe Loudon?

Re freshman soccer teams, that would be nice, but I’m not sure about competition since I don’t believe any area public schools have freshman teams so competition would be limited to Arlington schools. I think right now there’s more of a focus on adding new sports like boys volleyball.

My kids attend an IB school in area. They decided not to pursue the IB diploma but had many IB and some AP courses. My older children are currently in college. My experience is that colleges highly valued the IB courses but not necessarily the IB diploma. My experience is that colleges view the courses as high level & full of rigor. There is a small subset of universities that are looking for the diploma, but most are not. I found that doing STEM classes & IB diploma difficult as the courses don’t really mesh. An engineering school will prefer AP Physics and the IB language/English courses. Just my two cents

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore at WL high school who is struggling with whether she should do the full IB program at WL high school, or simply do a mix of AP and IB classes without getting the full diploma. A key factor in her decision-making is future college options. She is worried that if she does not do the full IB program, colleges will question why she did not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at her school. She is aiming for some of the most highly competitive colleges. Any thoughts from those who have been there/done that? It is worth putting yourself through the rigor of the IB program? She is interested in a STEM career and IB is not necessarily a perfect fit for that, but it is what it is. Have any of your children regretted their decision to do the IB program?

Uh? She wants to go to some of “most highly selective colleges” and yet the rigor of IB is at all a concern? I mean, I get that she wants to do STEM, but come on. Have you looked at the W&L matriculations to the “most highly selective colleges”? Not to mean, but you sound like you have no clue. Almost no one from that smart group of kids is getting into those schools. Except athletic recruits. And THE VERY BEST students, like top ten. None of those kids are scared off by IB and would only consider the most rigorous courses. To be clear, I am not including UVA.

This is the OP. She is not concerned about the rigor, but rather, the fact that the IB requirements preclude her from taking other classes that are more relevant to STEM and her areas of interest/focus. There is no question she would do the IB program if she was interested in going into a humanities field.

IB is excellent for STEM. It's so obvious someone has no STEM experience when they come in and claim that AP is the ideal program, as if AP Calculus BC is the key to the STEM universe. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Someone who goes through IB and learns to write extensively in math and science is going to be better off in the long run even if they didn't learn that one integration rule absent from IB Math that AP Calc does cover. Oh please. There are four years of college-level math and science to go at that point. High school math material is inconsequential. Nobody wants the engineer or developer who sucks at writing technical reports.