When I was young, there was some discussion about me transferring to a school that offered an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In the end, I didn’t go, but managed to get a (US) high school diploma and go on and complete a Bachelor of Science degree.
I was reminiscing over times past and wonder what I missed. I was told that IB was very similar to Advanced Placement (AP) credit, but it looks like IB is a comprehensive program that, if you can make it, gives you this big overall credential that is supposedly super awesome. I was pulling up some sources on the IB and it seems that the program itself is heavily tied in with the high school experience.
Can you earn an IB as an adult, for example by taking exams, by registering for actual IB courses, or by using past transcripts and experiences and presenting a portfolio indicating that you obtained the knowledge and experience that would have been required for an IB? For example, is there an IB-GED that is like a GED but broader and tougher because it includes IB specific stuff?
Is an IB meaningful for a person’s future after they have received a bachelor’s degree? For example, does an IB give you an edge getting into graduate school or a PhD program, or is it swallowed up in the past and your undergraduate experience and standardized test scores are what really matter? What I mean with this question is whether or not having the piece of paper matters, or whether it’s just the knowledge, experience and discipline gained that gives you a practical advantage and you could get that knowledge, experience, and discipline elsewhere and it wouldn’t matter to admissions officials, because they don’t care about IB’s at that level. Are there any jobs that are closed to me as a bachelor’s degree holder who does not have an IB?
To obtain an IB diploma you just need to complete the programma. So you would have to find a school that accepts older students. There is no reason there wouldn’t be any. I doubt you could obtain the diploma by submitting other qualifications or experiences, you’d have to do the exams at least.
Employers or universities would be unlikely to be concerned with you having an IB diploma after your university degree. I’ve had an employer comment on it in an interview, she had done IB too. It tends to be people with international backgrounds, so it might give a potential employer some information in that respect, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
When I was applying to university they requested documentation of my level of English, because I was applying from abroad. They wanted an IB English diploma for level B2. I had an A1 Higher Level diploma. They didn’t accept it, because their little sheet of paper said it had to be B2. We emailed up and down, me explaining every time that my qualification is the same, only much, much better. In the end I had to go higher up where they conceded that, yes, my diploma did mean I spoke English.
So that’s a problem with the IB: it’s not rare, but rare enough that a university has trouble understanding the qualifications.
It is a good programme. One thing that I think should absolutely be a rule in all education everywhere is that you have to take Theory of Knowledge. It’s sort of a combination of epistemology and philosophy of science.
Basically what it is is a standardized high school curriculum that can be offered in high schools that have met certification standards. It’s quite rigorous, and because the students’ work and exams are graded by the IB agency, it is generally held in good regard by universities around the world, and used as a standardized way to compare high school students from different countries and educational systems.
It can be offered at either public or private high schools.
I’m not aware of any IB program for adults after the fact, but there might be ways an adult could get one, say by enrolling in a high school program that is credentialed to offer the IB that is also an alternative high school for returning adults. However, already having an BS degree would most likely exclude a person from most such high school programs.
One big difference between the IB and the AP is that a person can challenge an AP exam – applying the skills they have learned elsewhere to take the exam without having been enrolled in an AP class. You cannot do this with the IB exams.
There are two paths within IB – the diploma and the certificate. The diploma is more rigorous and comprehensive, and includes the Theory of Knowledge foundation class, a research paper, and a co-curricular component. The certificate is more like the AP system (again, but you can’t challenge the test without taking the class) where a student can take individual IB classes.
The IB is becoming more common in the US, and US colleges and universities are becoming more familiar with it as part of the undergraduate application process – that said, it’s still very uneven.
In the US, I don’t know of any particular weight given to the IB in terms of graduate admissions.
For the best answer, try asking the IB answer desk from their website. They will be able to answer any inquiry you can think of in a timely manner.
I don’t think there are any specific age limits on IB programs, but they are meant to correspond with particular levels in school (they have programs for K-6, 8-10, 11-12, and career related education, with the 11-12 diploma program being the most well known.) You would need to find a high school that enrolls adults in an IB program, and while there may be a random program here and there that accept slightly older students, I’m unaware of any programs aimed specifically at adults. Another factor is that IB programs are fairly comprehensive, not just pick and choose like AP. So you would probably need to be doing full-time high school classes.
In the US, I’d guess that the market for adults wanting that level of education is mostly fulfilled by community colleges, which are well suited for adults needs.
IB can give you an edge in admissions. The specifications vary a lot from university to university. In Europe, you can often skip the year long “bridge” program that a standard US high school graduate would have to take to start classes. In the US, often you can gain up to a year of advanced standing and graduate early. In Canada, there is even a school that offers preferred parking spots to IB applicants. While in the US there is no standard formula for how universities consider IB in admissions, the number one thing that universities look for is rigorous coursework, and the IB definitely fill that. Rigorous research has shown that IB students excel in post-secondary studies, and universities respect that. But most competitive university admissions look at the whole picture, so while IB can do a lot to prepare students to achieve what they need to get into good schools, it will take student achievement to get into a good school, not just enrolling in a program.
Please note that my views do not reflect any official position of the IB. The IB answers website is the best place to look for official information.