Is the IB Diploma worth it?

I did the exact same, I'm doing full IB next year, and figuring it will take away my social/skiing life.

Whats IB? Just curious

KravtZWhats IB? Just curious

International baccalaureate, it's supposed to make learning more globalized, it's supposed to connect your learning with people all over the world

Learn how to spell things out instead of using Abbrev.

It won't take over your life but it's not at all worth it in my opinion. Very few schools actually accept IB credit, it sucks but it's true. My high school had IB and a bunch of my friends did it and it never paid off. I went the route of taking courses at the local college and all of my credits are transferring. I would highly recommend that if you have the option.

On top of that, a lot of the curriculum for IB is bullshit busy work.

I took the ib and regretted it immensely, managed to scrape through it with very little work but it's honestly better to take the easier course (A levels for me, not sure about you) and excel in it without having to waste your time with cas and ee and all that bollocks. Its definitely not as bad as people hype it up to be but still not worth it.

pattyeiksInternational baccalaureate, it's supposed to make learning more globalized, it's supposed to connect your learning with people all over the world

Like the gear talk section of Newschoolers right

Doesn't sound worth it. I don't know much about it, but if you have shit you'd rather be doing, do that. I mean get good grades and what not, but don't be totally lame and worth through high school like it's a job. There will be plenty of time to slave away down the road. Have some fun.

As far as being more globalized, what the fuck does this course do? Maybe just save up a few bucks and take a trip to some different countries after high school. That would make you more "globalized" or whatever.

I mean I guess for the best schools everything helps, but you're only young once, Then you get old and die alone somewhere. The future is bleak, party on OP.

I came into CU Boulder with 28 college credits, and that was with scoring 24 total points on the IB exams but since I scored one point too low on my overall HL course score, i never actually received the full diploma.

It did give a somewhat heavier workload which helped with time management, but I could have gone without it and just taken AP classes. But it doesn't take over your life. I still played two sports during the school year and skied every weekend.

I'm at an Architecture school here in Canada where many students come from IB private schools. Our program is quite intense - around 70 hrs a week of work and a 90+ entrance average.... To be completely honest, I haven't really noticed a difference between entrants from IB and those from a Public system. It's pretty much an even playing field.

Also, my best friend ended up dropping into a partial IB stream because he hated that he didn't have a life outside of school.

The only reason I would seriously recommend IB is if the education system in your municipality is weaker than normal (which I'm assuming it isn't because you even have an IB stream) or if you're considering undergraduate studies in Europe.

Enjoy your time in highschool, man.

I feel i'm the only one with real experience here. I'm currently finishing my IB diploma program planning to take exams this May. From what i understand you went into it with teh same expectations i had. Just another 2 years of classes, tests and then some final exams at the end.
it's so far from that.
i don't know your SL's and HL's so i can't tell, but my program was like this.
(This is entirely my experience, yours may vary greatly)
HL - Italian, Physics and Math
Sl - English Lit and Performance, Islamics and Chemistry
Prediction - 38 +2 points for TOK and EE

It's hard. I had a 4.00 GPA in middle school and the first two years of HS and then the Ib diploma dropped it to a 3. The classes are long, the IA's are a pain the ass, the time is always very very short and you'll go to your HL's and feel like you're constantly cramming as much stuff as possible to try and go well. if you've been good in math so far then it's not a guarantee you're going to be good the IB years. To put it simply, i had a 4.00 GPA doing basically nothing every day (30mins of hw a day, max) IB has you preparing for exams you'll have in over a month every single day.
CAS is always a pain in the ass as it's really not going to teach you anything. And nether is TOK.
If you plan on taking weekends off to go skiing, it's definitely possible, but it's always better to stay home and study.

Some advice
EE - work on it immediately and meet with your EE advisor/supervisor as often as possible. He will have to be your #1 contact in your phone for at least the first 2 months of the ee where you choose a question and in the last 3 when you are about to hand it in. (i had from end of junior to mid december of senior to do it)

IA's - look into the syllabus and look at things you may like further on. if you're able to choose a topic you still haven't done you'll get easy points for engagement in the subject. work work work and don't ever, ever ever procrastinate with anything. it'll catch up and hit you upside the head like a baseball bat.

Final Considerations

It's not hard. Idiots have passed at my school. However, you'll be giving up free time the winter of your senior year. I used to ski around 100 days a year, this year (it was a bad season, i admit) i only skied like 20 max.

Anyways, that's not the point. take classes you like, and figure what they are asap. If you do you'll have classes you really enjoy and the whole IB may not even be that big of deal.

I feel the free time thing may scare you a bit. You'll still have plenty of time to have fun, but you'll find yourself having to pass on certain things such as dinner out with friends, a night out drinking and some other things like this. But you will have fun and enjoy yourself, and the IB isn't everything in life, remember this.

From an academic standpoint, the IB is the best favor you can do yourself as it's one of the only greatly appreciated international program by universities/colleges around the world.

I would definitely take the IB on again if given the chance, but if i would i'd listen to my teachers recommendations more.

if you need any more clarification PM me and i'll be happy to help you.

pattyeiksToday I signed up for my classes for junior year next year, and since my school is primarily IB I signed up for mostly HL and SL classes. But the question I'm having now, is it all worth it to get the diploma, and if I do choose to do it will CAS hours and the extended essay completely take over my life for the next 4 years? I want to to get into a good college, but I also want to have a good social life along with free time to ski and skateboard, so this decision that I make in the next couple months about pursuing it or not will have a huge effect on the next two years of my life. So, preferably from current or previous candidates, people who dropped out, or people who got it ,is it really worth it?

L0gicI did the exact same, I'm doing full IB next year, and figuring it will take away my social/skiing life.

I answered below but forgot to quote. Look at the previous response.

Take IB classes because they are much more interesting than normal classes if you actually pay attention but don't go for the diploma because it is worthless. Also senior yr for history take oconnors hl history of the americas class even if everyone else goes into kouneskis class. Kounskis chill and easy af but oconner teaches the most interesting class I've ever taken and its pretty easy too. Also try to get dundon for english. If you take spanish don't get in townsends class whatever you do. If your looking for easy math still under the IB label take sl math studies with sturm. Senior yr were still covering shit I learned in 5th and 6th grade. Unless your really into it don't take a science class senior yr because you don't need a 4th yr of science classes and its either a shitload of work or you don't learn anything because you do what most of the class does and fail the tests and then come in after school with the answer key to retake them. Also fuck you guys for getting all the benefits of the new addition while the seniors just get fucked with construction and never get the benefits. Also all of the new lifeskill type classes like intro to business and personal finance are super easy A's so good classes for senior yr. Oh yeah and get a study hall right before or after lunch so you can double lunch without getting marked absent.

I quit IB this year as i want to go into chem eng in college. I wanted to take AP chemistry and had no room for it in the IB schedule. Dropped the DIploma, and now have room to be a school store manager, take programming, and AP biology. Love my decision, even though i am in almost all other IB courses this year (History of Americas, Pre-Calc, World Lit 1, Phsyics), plus advanced merchandising. In my opinion don't sacrifice classes more specific to your major (if you know what you want to do in college). Unless you are planning on going to the University of Munich or another European school.

what's the difference between AP and IB I'm lost

foolmetwiceTake IB classes because they are much more interesting than normal classes if you actually pay attention but don't go for the diploma because it is worthless. Also senior yr for history take oconnors hl history of the americas class even if everyone else goes into kouneskis class. Kounskis chill and easy af but oconner teaches the most interesting class I've ever taken and its pretty easy too. Also try to get dundon for english. If you take spanish don't get in townsends class whatever you do. If your looking for easy math still under the IB label take sl math studies with sturm. Senior yr were still covering shit I learned in 5th and 6th grade. Unless your really into it don't take a science class senior yr because you don't need a 4th yr of science classes and its either a shitload of work or you don't learn anything because you do what most of the class does and fail the tests and then come in after school with the answer key to retake them. Also fuck you guys for getting all the benefits of the new addition while the seniors just get fucked with construction and never get the benefits. Also all of the new lifeskill type classes like intro to business and personal finance are super easy A's so good classes for senior yr. Oh yeah and get a study hall right before or after lunch so you can double lunch without getting marked absent.

Yeah I'm in in townsends right now and I'm sure my Spanish is getting worse , but I agree your class did get screwed with the construction, but honestly some class had to have gotten screwed over bc were going from 1600 to 2200 students next year

SammyDubzwhat's the difference between AP and IB I'm lost

There basically just two different ways of taking honors classes, AP focuses more on college prep, while IB is about being connected to what you're learning

we have IB at my school, most people only take 1 or 2 IB classes, but around 6 or 7 people took full IB in my grade. I never see any of them. 2 months into the school year i realized this one kid still went to my school. some post-secondary schools take into account that your grades would be higher if you took regular classes but most won't. so unless you're gonna keep an 80+ average and never sleep i'd say only take one or two. I only took SL IB film this year

I dropped IB after sophomore year and took every AP class I could. Ended up having a way less stressful time in school than my friends who stuck with it and got way more college credits. The number of colleges that accept AP credits vs the number that accept IB is pretty ridiculous, I'd look at the main schools you're interested in and see how many IB credits they accept before commiting to the asinine timesuck that is HL and SL courses.

no

I did pre IB and then dropped before sophomore year

It's a lot of work for virtually nothing. I don't feel like you are necessarily learn more (other than history).

Ask ns user gavinrudy though. He completed it because he's a huge nerd.

Don't go to college for a while - I wish I had taken time off right out of the gate but I listened to all of the stupid people saying "If you don't go to college now, you'll never go". That's all horseshit. I dropped out of University in second year to move to whistler and it was the best decision I ever made, I lived in a shack and survived on about $500/month but I would do it all over again in a second. I even ended up going back to college for something I actually enjoyed in the end.

I wish more schools would encourage people to take a gap year (like they do in England) - there's a lot of shit you learn about yourself when you no longer have homework to do, classes to attend and people dictating your life.

Panta.PowI feel i'm the only one with real experience here.

No. You're not.








You damn sidesnack

Young_pattyNo. You're not.








You damn sidesnack

bruh, why you hunting me down. calm down. find something better to do.

Young_pattyNo. You're not.








You damn sidesnack

Get back to zinn boy

Panta.Powbruh, why you hunting me down. calm down. find something better to do.

Actually rn he's bragging about how cultures he is

Panta.Powbruh, why you hunting me down. calm down. find something better to do.

Because your comments on this site are cancer

Young_pattyBecause your comments on this site are cancer

says the member who's been harassing me for the past day. do you really have nothing better to do with your life.

HughesI took the ib

Panta.PowI feel i'm the only one with real experience here.

.

Panta.Powsays the member who's been harassing me for the past day. do you really have nothing better to do with your life.

chill bro.. you're here on newschoolers talking about your GPA from middle school. I'd just stop now

Panta.PowI've been sitting on my thumb all fucking day trying to be a keyboard warrior to no avail.


FUCKING KILL ME

/thread

Panta.Powsays the member who's been harassing me for the past day. do you really have nothing better to do with your life.

Yes I have no life for harassing an idiot on NS for an afternoon.
























You dink

AnGaper/thread

FATALITY

My graduating class is pretty much the guinea pig grade for IB because when I was a junior they started IB with year 1 IB classes and no year 2 IB classes until my senior year. Only 6 kids in my graduating class out of 270 are in the diploma program. I'm currently finishing up my second year of high-level IB visual arts (because I decided to take that class a la carte), but what sucks was that the entire curriculum of the class changed during summer vacation between junior and senior year. All I have left to finish up is my process portfolio and my comparative study, but I have my artwork photographed and my curatorial rationale all finished up within the past 2 weeks. IB art is harder than it actually is.

10/10 would not recommend unless your a genius and can get into ivy. Otherwise colleges won't give a shit.