IB Program Difference

What Makes the IB Diploma Program Different?

Value of an IB Education | Choosing Between AP and IB: An In-Depth Guide

Well-Rounded Students

The DP helps create the "well-rounded" student through a rigorous program of study. DP students must take a course from each of the six subject group areas which encourages students to strengthen their weaknesses while enhancing their strengths. The AP program does not require students to enroll in any specific course; therefore, AP students usually take courses in their strongest academic areas.

Development of Writing and Research Skills

The structure of the DP courses help formulate better writing and research skills; adjusting to college-level writing and researching is easier because students have developed these skills in the DP. Learning how to research and write the Extended Essay (EE) helps students manage college-level research papers. Additionally, DP courses stress the evaluation of other perspectives which makes students better critical thinkers. Students learn how to not only use their own knowledge and understanding, but they also have to incorporate other opinions and viewpoints into their analysis. The end result is not a simple recitation of knowledge but a justification of their knowledge.

Breadth and Depth

The DP curriculum encourages a cross-study of disciplines and an in-depth study of college level curriculum. The DP curriculum is recognized by all colleges and universities who value students earning their IB Diploma. The acceptance rate of IB students into Ivy League institutions (Princeton, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth) is between 3 and 13 percentage points higher compared to the total population acceptance rate. (ibo.org).

Here are a few examples of the recognition DP students earn:

Harvard University

"IB is well known to us for excellent preparation. Success in an IB programme correlates well with success at Harvard. We are always pleased to see the credentials of the IB Diploma Programme on the transcript. GPA is not nearly as important a factor in university admission as the IB Diploma. If a student has to choose, choose the Diploma over protecting the GPA." Marilyn McGrath Lewis Director of Admissions

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):

"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 Admissions

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

Embry-Riddle

"At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and many private universities, IB student's applications go immediately from the big pile to the little pile"

Burt Mullins, Assistant Director of Admissions Prescott, Arizona Campus

Bright Futures Scholarship

IB students who earn the IB diploma qualify for the highest level of Bright Futures Scholarship

"School-within-a-school"

Students in the DP are grouped together and become like a family. The teachers, students, IB Coordinator, and parents work together to ensure success for each student. The IB Coordinator specializes in the DP requirements and helps counsel and advise DP students as they journey through the program. Furthermore, SRHS has an outstanding group of DP teachers who understand the program and the course work necessary for students to earn their diploma.

Global Awareness and Competence

Unlike AP students, IB students are not evaluated by one assessment. Each DP course includes between 3 to 5 components that are assessed by highly trained SRHS teachers AND by IB World moderators. Not only are DP students assessed by SRHS teachers, they are also assessed on criteria that is identical for all IB students around the world which makes our students globally competent.

Engaging in learning that promotes global awareness and internationalism

  • Cultural differences
  • Global financial systems
  • Natural resources
  • Relationships with other governments
  • Appreciation of art and architecture

Foreign language is required

  • Students master 5 years of Spanish or French