Discover IB
The International Baccalaureate or IB, formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization or IBO, is a world leader in international education. IB offers four educational programmes: the IB Primary Years Programme (for children aged 3 to 12), the IB Middle Years Programme (for students aged 11 to 16), and the IB Diploma Programme and the IB Career-Related Programme (both for students aged 16 to 19). To teach these programmes, schools must be authorized by the International Baccalaureate.
More About an IB Education
The IB Diploma Programme
The IB Diploma Programme "is an academically challenging and balanced programme of education with final examinations that prepares students, aged 16 to 19, for success at university and life beyond. It has been designed to address the intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being of students. The programme has gained recognition and respect from the world’s leading universities".
More About the IB Diploma Programme
The Value of an IB Education
Watch this video to see Stanford Universities Debra Von Bargen, Assistant Dean of Admissions, as she discusses the value of an IB education.
IB & University Admissions
Harvard University
“The IB is well known to us for excellent preparations. Success in an IB program correlates well with success at Harvard. We are always pleased to see the credentials of the IB Diploma Program in the transcript.”
Marilyn McGrath Lewis, Director of Undergraduate Admission
Duke University
“One of the advantages of an IB curriculum is its structure and quality. It is a coordinated program, well established, well known and well respected. We know the quality of IB courses, and we think IB curriculum is terrific.”
Christoph Guttentag, Director of Undergraduate Admission
Vanderbilt University
“I have always been a supporter of the International Baccalaureate. It is a thoughtful and genuinely intellectual curriculum with an unusually high degree of integrity and connectedness. There is no other curriculum anywhere that does a superior job of both educating students and inspiring a true and broad-based love of learning.”
William Shain, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions
College of William and Mary
“The rigor of the IB Diploma requirement meets our recommendation for the strongest high school preparation possible…In sum, the IB diploma candidate who has met the challenge successfully receives strong consideration from the William and Mary admission committee.”
Allison Jesse, Former Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission
Connecticut College
“Connecticut College highly values the IB program as it prepares students for the liberal arts in ways that few secondary school curriculums can. The TOK class’s interdisciplinary approach is a prime example of the kind of work students will be expected to do on most college campuses today. In addition, colleges and American universities highly value community service, another important component of the IB curriculum. Students who have graduated from schools with the IB curriculum are extremely well prepared when they arrive on our campus.”
Martha Merrill, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Macalester College
“We respect the IB program for its academic rigor and the dedication it requires of students to earn the diploma. Over the years, we have found IB students to be exceptionally well-prepared for a challenging college experience.”
Lorne Robinson, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Sarah Lawrence College
“In our minds, there is no more challenging curriculum than the IB curriculum. Not only does it prepare students for a demanding college program, but the IB curriculum also instills in students a love of learning and an understanding of the truly interdisciplinary nature of education. Instead of working on each subject in a vacuum, IB students are shown how each of their classes connects both with the other classes and with the world around them. At Sarah Lawrence College, we are very cautious about granting advanced standing credit for any course work that is done before a student enters college. In the case of students who are completing the full IB diploma, however, we are willing to grant students an entire year’s worth of credit due to the intensely rigorous nature of the program. Unlike the AP curriculum, which is often done piecemeal, students enrolling in the full IB diploma are receiving a comprehensive and challenging education, which is unlike any other. I only wish that my stepson had the opportunity to be part of this curriculum.”
Thyra L. Briggs, Dean of Enrollment
Claremont McKenna College
“For many years, we have considered the full IB Diploma to be the “gold standard.” It just doesn’t get any tougher. Unlike an AP program, in which students who can pick and choose which AP courses to take, sometimes based on playing to their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses, the full IB diploma is consistent, coherent, rigorous, and takes two full years to complete. It takes a tremendous amount of intellectual effort and academic commitment.”
Richard Vos, Vice President/Dean of Admission
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Send us prepared students a la IB. . . It is the ‘best’ high school prep curriculum an American school can offer.”
Marilee Jones, Former Director of Undergraduate Admission