Parent Thoughts on IB Programme

[LasMa]

<p>xiggi, I don’t know the reason for your loathing of IB, but college educators disagree with you. Or maybe you know something that Duke, Harvard, VaTech, and W&M don’t. </p>

<p>

Christoph Guttentag, Duke:
“We know the quality of IB courses, and we think the IB curriculum is terrific.” </p>

<p>Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Harvard:
“IB is well known to us as excellent preparation. Success in an IB program correlates well with success at Harvard.”</p>

<p>Eugene Carson, Virginia Tech:
“. . . IB students who attended Virginia Tech as freshmen significantly outperformed all other freshmen, including students who had taken Advanced Placement courses.”</p>

<p>The College of William and Mary:
“William and Mary recognizes the International Baccalaureate program as extremely rigorous; the best possible preparation for both college work and life in the twenty-first century. In addition, we feel that the hallmarks of the IB experience - an international perspective, an interdisciplinary approach to learning, a commitment to service, and an emphasis on critical reading and analytical writing - are also the hallmarks of a William and Mary education. We encourage completion of the full IB diploma and will give special consideration for admission to students who have done so.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wilmingtonfriends.org/page.aspx?pid=410[/url]”>http://www.wilmingtonfriends.org/page.aspx?pid=410&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>UMichigan and Bryn Mawr are so clueless that they wax eloquent on the subject:</p>

<p>

The University of Michigan
Cliff Sjogren</p>

<p>A transcript that reveals a student’s enrollment in International Baccalaureate courses serves notice to the admissions officer that the applicant is someone who accepts rather than avoids educational challenges. The educational sophistication that students develop through an experience in an International Baccalaureate Program will serve them well at Michigan and other institutions that attract serious students. Other advantages include an increased degree of self-confidence that comes from classroom experience with college-level academic material, a sharing of intellectual activities with the best students of the school, better time management, more experience with independent study, and a unique experience in "learning how to learn” through the Theory of Knowledge course. </p>

<p>Unquestionably, a school that graduates each year a number of students with International Baccalaureate diplomas has demonstrated its commitment to high educational standards and that commitment will serve to influence admissions decisions at the University of Michigan.

Bryn Mawr College
Elizabeth Vermey</p>

<p>What makes the International Baccalaureate different from other university entrance credentials is that it manages to achieve all of a number of different goals: it insures breadth (through the distribution requirement), provides coherence (through the theory of knowledge requirement), teaches writing, analytical and research skills far beyond what is usually asked of a student in high school (through the extended essay) and demands that the student transcend his narrow national/cultural perspective (through the language B requirement). </p>

<p>

[IB</a> and College Admissions](<a href=“http://internationalcounselor.org/College%20program/ib_and_college_admissions.htm#research]IB”>http://internationalcounselor.org/College%20program/ib_and_college_admissions.htm#research)</p>

<p>Unfortunately, many top colleges are so misguided that they think the letters “IB” on a transcript are enough to warrant college credit or even advanced placement:
[Princeton</a> University](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/advanced_placement/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/advanced_placement/)
[Yale[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/prospective/ap/index.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/prospective/ap/index.html]MIT</a>](<a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/does-yale-award-credit-based-advanced-placement-international-baccalaureate-or-other-external-e-0]Yale[/url”>http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/does-yale-award-credit-based-advanced-placement-international-baccalaureate-or-other-external-e-0)
[Stanford[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/apib.html]Johns”>http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/apib.html]Johns</a> Hopkins University](<a href=“http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/baccalaureate-credit]Stanford[/url”>http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/baccalaureate-credit)
[Rice</a> University](<a href=“http://registrar.rice.edu/students/ib_credit/]Rice”>International Baccalaureate (IB) Credit)
[University</a> of California](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/ib-credits/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/ib-credits/index.html)</p>

<p>Looks like your crusade has a long way to go. :rolleyes:</p>