International Bacclaurette

[lowzeewee]

Do any of you do the International Bacclaurette program in your school?It's the Swiss diploma program that guarantees you places in universities all over the world. :O

[nemafakei]

I don't do it, but I know about it. What do you want to know?

[lowzeewee]

What it is like studying for the IB and how useful it is and what the workload and lessons are like.

[Cyborg]

I would do it if it wasn't for all the homework they have there  :P

[Andrew]

I have no idea as to exactly which program you are referring to. May not be offered at my university. Unless it is not a university thing.

[lowzeewee]

It's pre-University thing.

http://www.ibo.org/

There it is.Look to the 'Diploma program'.That site doesn't provide info on what I am asking for.:(

[SurlyPIG]

Well where I live IB is offered for high school students (grades 10-12) that have high enough marks coming out of junior high (grades 7-9).  I qualified for IB and considered doing it, but I opted out of it on the advice of one of my grade nine teachers.  I have a couple of friends in it too and and have a general sense of the workload associated with it from what I've heard.  My grade nine English/Social teacher (who is very smart, perceptive, gave good advice and had previously taught IB) said that for the majority of people who qualify for it, doing the IB program is the right choice only if academics is your thing.  If your life is mostly centered around school and school work and you find that you do more than all the students around you, even when it isn't required, then IB is probably a fit for you.  Most of the people I know who went into the program were like this.  Few of them did much outside of school in terms of sports, music, etc and most of them were comparably socially introverted (not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with this or that you have to be this type of person to succeed in IB, but that's just usually the best fit).  The exceptions were people who excelled in one or two subjects and wanted to base their post-secondary education out of those high school subjects.  I'm not sure how it works where you live, but you have to take two different course streams in IB (as opposed to the standard class) to continue with the program.  The more balanced individuals I know that did IB excelled in math and science in junior high and take one IB course per term in either of those two areas but take regular classes in other subjects.  In terms of workload, I've heard that there's upwards of five hours per night of homework on top of what's done in class associated with taking a standard IB course load.

As for it's value in applying to post-secondary, again, I don't know if IB is more highly recognized where you live, but it doesn't help you with local university entrance where I'm from.  The program is meant to be an international standard for schooling abroad, so I guess to sum it up IB is appropreate for:

a) Students to whom school is their "thing," and would like to be challenged more or would get bored in standard classes

and/or

b) Students who plan on going to school outside of their country and have a good sense of where they'd like to go, where they excel and thus what they might like to study.

[lowzeewee]

Looks like it might be suitable for social-introverts like me since I just sit in front of the comp the whole day.:)

[VigilVirus]

I'm in IB full diploma. First I loved the idea, but then I realized that this is taking up the time I could use to have a life. Oh well, eh?

[lowzeewee]

Does IB require you to write a lot of essays?

[VigilVirus]

I write at least 3 to 4 a week. The main essay/research paper that you have to write for IB that I just finished is somewhere about 20 pages. I actually wrote and researched all that stuff in a day (the day before I had to turn it in ;))......took me 10 hours in a row in front of my computer and in the end I collapsed on the floor with a flu =P. Ironically...I was writing the paper on avian flu.

[nemafakei]

The other question, of course, is what you want to compare it with. Here, the norm is A-levels, qualifications in individual subjects of which you can take pretty much any combination within reason that your school can offer.

In this case, the questions are ones of specialisation. With the IB, it is more difficult to specialise: for example, whereas at A-level, you could choose to study Mathematics and Further Mathematics - 2 A-levels, both almost certainly required by universities for Maths degrees, the latter preferred for Computing and Physics based degrees. At IB, HL Maths is close to A-level standard, but the syllabus is obviously going to be stronger in some areas, weaker in others - but it may leave you seriously deficient for a degree in mathematics.

Note also that some subject combinations are impossible, and remember that you have to study two languages, a scientific subject, a humanity, and maths. My advice is that if you have the option of taking standalone qualifications like A-levels, then the questions you want to ask yourself include "Do I dislike two or more of the necessary subjects at IB?" and "Will I be able to specialise enough in IB to manage once I get to Uni?" If either answer is no, go for the standalone qualification.

[DukeLeto]

I'm in the IB program at Deland.  It's a lot of work, but well worth it.  (Except for having to get up at five in the morning.  *grumbles*)  And plus, it's a standardized curriculum taught by internationally certified teachers, a rare and big plus here in the Sunshine State® . :P

[bryorama]

I write at least 3 to 4 a week. The main essay/research paper that you have to write for IB that I just finished is somewhere about 20 pages. I actually wrote and researched all that stuff in a day (the day before I had to turn it in ;))......took me 10 hours in a row in front of my computer and in the end I collapsed on the floor with a flu =P. Ironically...I was writing the paper on avian flu.

Very ironic, eh?  :P

[lowzeewee]

Looks like I got all the information,a 1000 thanks,guys! :)