<p>An acquaintance of my daughter’s is going to this program, specifically the one in Victoria, Canada. Is anyone familiar with this? What are impressions? From a quick search, it seems like it gives you just IB stuff, which is great and all, but I’m not sure what the point of IB is if you come from a school that has AP’s.</p>
<p>The UWCs are very prestigious schools; indeed, they are some of the very best in the world. Some advantages include studying with people from many other cultures and getting a very rigourous education.</p>
<p>The IB is very different from AP courses; it forces you to be a much more well-rounded person, and it definitely teaches you to think more critically than APs do. Whether or not the IB is suited for a person really depends on their interests. You’re forced to take six courses; a maths course, a foreign language, a science, a humanities course (from history to psychology to philosophy), your native tongue, and one elective, which can be another science, another humanities course, another language, art, music, or drama. You also must complete CAS hours (creativity, action, and service hours) along with your EE and TOK essay. If a student wants to focus only on one particular academic area, and is rubbish at others, the IB may not be the best choice. However, the IB is widely respected by colleges and universities in the US and in the world.</p>
<p>My son graduate from an IB school, the [Washington</a> International School](<a href=“http://www.wis.edu/]Washington”>http://www.wis.edu/). He went there for 13 years. The IB approach to education is considerably different than the almost rote memorization of AP courses. The IB is based on cumulative knowledge beginning in primary school, learning foreign languages, understanding different cultures, and most importantly critical thinking. Most American public schools don’t do it very well in my opinion. They start too late and do not understand what it is really all about. It is not an alternative to APs. It is an an approach to education that creates children who are tolerant, adaptive, and clear thinkers.</p>
<p>Wow, that Washington school seems really good. Is your son truly fluent in Spanish (or French), tsdad?</p>
<p>Ansar:</p>
<p>Spanish. For the first three or four years it is total immersion in French or Spanish. Then half day. By the time they are in high school they are taking the language every day, but all other classes are taught in English. They have also have to take two years of a third language.</p>
<p>The various United World Colleges are major feeder schools for international students to the very top US colleges and universities. I don’t know all the details, but there are United World College scholarship dollars that follow some of their students to 92 participating colleges.</p>
<p>[Davis</a> United World College Scholars Program](<a href=“http://www.davisuwcscholars.org/]Davis”>http://www.davisuwcscholars.org/)</p>
<p>There is a related Davis Projects for Peace endowment that awards grants for 100 international service projects, basically one proposal for each of the 92 colleges plus a few extra. These are not strictly limited to United World College graduates, but let’s say there is a tight connnection:</p>
<p>[Projects</a> | Projects for Peace](<a href=“Project Archive | Middlebury”>Project Archive | Middlebury)</p>
<p>I’m not positive, but I believe that the history of the United World Colleges and the history of the IB program are very closely intertwined.</p>
<p>I’ve heard mixed reviews from the many kids I’ve know who’ve attended. They each are quite different fom one another, so check them out individuallly.</p>
<p>I understand the IB programs are good, but what is the point of a hs graduate going on to get an IB vs just going to college?</p>
<p>^United World “Colleges” are not really “colleges” that we define in the US. For the one in Hong Kong, you can enroll after form-4 (10th grade) as a “junior”.</p>
<p>Ah, ok. Thanks. That helps.</p>
<p>That terminology is frequently used. For example, the top private prep school feeder from Singapore is Raffles Junior College. It was called the top Ivy League feeder school in world by the Wall St. Journal.</p>
<p>If you go to the Prep School Admissions forum and do a search of “United World Colleges,” you will find some discussion.</p>