Admissions Officers Want IB Students

"Highly selective colleges and universities are looking for students who take the most challenging courses available to them. The IB programme is notable not just for the rigor of its individual classes, but for the thoughtful integration of the entire programme. Students who complete the IB diploma are the kind of smart, intellectually curious, and creative students who excel at the top universities."

Brandon R. Clarke, Former admission director, Stanford University

"We respect the I.B. program for its acad 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, Macalester College

"For many years we here at CMC have considered the Full IB Diploma to be the "Gold standard." We have some California public high schools where the IB program is so strong that we have a good number of applicants each year from those high schools who are Full IB Diploma candidates. We automatically consider that curriculum to be the most rigorous possible. 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, Claremont McKenna 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 required senior project and the TOK class's interdisciplinary approach are prime examples 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, Connecticut 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, Sarah Lawrence College

"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 Vanderbilt University

"Send us prepared students a la IB...it is the BEST high school prep curriculum an American school can offer."

Marilee Jones, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, M.I.T.

"One of the advantages of an IB curriculum is its structure and quality. It's a coordinated program, well established, well known, and well respected. We know the quality of IB courses, and we think the IB curriculum is terrific."

Christoph Guttentag, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Duke University

"The best predictor of academic success is previous academic performance. Students who elect and satisfy the standards of a rigorous and demanding program in high school are the ones best suited to benefit from the intellectual environment at university. A transcript that reveals a student's enrollment in IB courses serves notice to the admissions officer that the applicant is someone who accepts rather than avoids educational challenges. Further, a successful IB student will enroll with some advantages over students who have taken less intensive programs. The educational sophistication that students develop through an experience in an IB program will serve them well at institutions that attract serious students. Other advantages include an increased self confidence that comes from classroom experience with college-level academic material, a sharing of intellectual activities with the best students of the school, better time management, more experience with independent study. Of course, the fact the IB is a world examination with nearly universal recognition can mean additional benefits for the internationally oriented young scholar"

Clifford Sjogren, Formerly of the University of Michigan

"The IB is a first-rate program, one we are familiar with, and it prepares students well for a university like ours."

Fred Hargadon, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Princeton University

"IB is well known to us as excellent preparation. Success in an IB program correlates well with success at Harvard. We are always pleased to see the credentials of the IB Diploma Program on the transcript."

Marily McGraff Lewis, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Harvard University

"The rigor of the IB Diploma requirements meet our recommendation for the strongest high school preparation possible. The Extended Essay echoes William & Mary's belief in the value of original research as well as the College's emphasis on strong writing skills, and the Theory of Knowledge course fosters active and critical learning and is philosophically akin to the goals of our freshman seminar program. The CAS component answers our call for students who have been exposed to community service and creative endeavors and who understand the importance of developing the whole person. In sum, the IB diploma candidate who has met the challenge successfully receives strong consideration from the William & Mary admission committee.

Allison Jesse, Former Associate Dean of Admissions, William & Mary