'23 son who is wrapping up his IB diploma and currently in the application cycle.
For him it was a great choice as it challenged him in writing which, as a STEM kid, was his weak point. He also loved the “school within a school” as there are 39 IB Diploma candidates out of a class of 400. I don’t believe it helps much with admissions as long as a student maxes out their rigor at their particular school in one-way-or-another. For our son, IB Diploma was the only way to do that at his high school so there really wasn’t an option.
I do think he will be WAY better prepared for college than if it hadn’t gone the IB Diploma route. IB forces you to write and write, including long research papers… all of which are great skills to get under your belt before you show up at college. We sold the diploma as “college is way more fun than high school, so sacrifice a little free time in high school so you can kick ass in college and have more time for fun there!”. He drank the koolaid.
Tomorrow he finds out his ED1 decision. Did it help? Who knows!