OPINION: IB is not what it might appear to be and does not help students

Marc Goldstein is a sophomore studying journalism and opinion editor for The New Political.

Please note that the views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

International Baccalaureate (IB,) although more uncommon in the United States, can be seen in high schools across the country. A nonprofit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, IB is pitched in the US as an alternative to Advanced Placement (AP) classes. One of the things that many high school students fail to realize until after graduating is that IB does little to assist in their post-high school plans and college admissions. 

IB is not all negatives. There are some positive aspects to the program, including preparation for post-secondary education standards and workloads, a well-rounded education and a more globalized education. While these are not to be overlooked, in my experiences, I gained nothing besides frustration and animosity towards my high school after I was forced to do it. 

IB also does not allow students to make a decision on the basis of their own education. Schools are either IB schools or AP schools, not both. Should a student specifically want to take a specific program, they would need to transfer schools. This creates a difficult decision for both students and parents because on one hand convenience is sacrificed in exchange for what is seen as a better education. 

The lack of customization can be seen as a positive, though. When it came to course selection, it was rather simple and straightforward, removing the stress of picking classes and creating a schedule. Additionally, this created relative continuity in the classes as, generally speaking, the same people would move up through classes together. 

Another rather negative thing about IB is the lack of college credit across the board. Typically in AP classes,  taking the AP Exam and getting a particular score grants a student the transferable credit. IB does not work in the same style. In IB, a student must take the highest level (HL) and get a specific score on the IB Exam. Only after that does the credit transfer to some colleges. It is rather frustrating to do all that work just to find out the results did not translate into making things easier in college. 

Ohio University is among many colleges that do not take any IB credits: they must meet the specified criteria explained above. Ohio only takes an IB test score from the highest level and the score (out of seven “points”) must be a five or above. The issue with this is that the vast majority of students, myself included, did not know that this was the only way to obtain the college credits, making the entire workload somewhat pointless. 

Additionally, it puts students behind their peers who come to college with AP credits. In many examples, AP credits are able to allow a student to bypass a lot of the “general education” classes that plague the freshman years of countless students. 

Another facet of the IB program that is rather redundant and pointless is the IB Diploma. In high school, receiving an IB Diploma, or going “full IB”, was something that was presented as one of the biggest academic honors that college admissions teams would covet. To go “full IB”, a student must take all IB courses for the final two years of high school. Simply put, this did not help students get into better colleges. In some cases, burnout occurs and makes life hard for students. 

Some critics of IB have called the program “un-American”. This idea comes from the little participation across schools in the US and the large number of international, specifically European, high schools who are IB schools. While these concerns might not be the biggest issue, it proves to be something to remember because after completing the program, students are then faced with adapting to American universities, a place where there is so much more flexibility in learning. 

IB is not an overall bad program. It has some very positive aspects, but those are overshadowed by the negatives like a lack of credits transferring, absence of flexibility in learning and increased stress levels for students. The program is pitched as an alternative to AP, but it does little to prove that with the hoops that a student must jump through to get the same benefits and payoff for their hard work in high school. Simply put, if IB wants to be the alternative to AP, it must be more in tune with high school students’ needs, ensure that all credits can be transferred to all American universities and find a way to deliver material in a better manner.