When I was in high school, I wasn't one of the kids who took easy classes and was in a million clubs and spent every waking hour with their friends. I was always studying. I didn't have time to be in clubs or hang out with the few friends I had. Why? I was in the International Baccalaureate program.
I'll quickly break down what the IB program is. Students start the IB program in their junior year of high school. They must complete three standard level classes, three higher level classes, 150 hours of CAS (creativity, activity, and service), a 1600-word theory of knowledge essay, and a 4000-word extended essay. Finish all of this, and pass all of the tests with at least a 4, and you've got yourself an IB diploma.
IB didn't teach me how to do community service. It didn't teach me how to solve a limit or find the production point of a monopoly. IB taught me so much more than that. It taught me that I can set my own goals and that it's my responsibility to meet those goals. These are things that can't be taught in a standard high school class, or even in an Advanced Placement class. IB is truly one of the best and most unique programs that our high schools have to offer.
IB was hard, I'm not going to lie to you. There were some nights where I just wanted to cry because my chemistry homework was so hard, or I had to write my final revisions of my extended essay. The workload was intense, but that didn't stop me. I knew what I wanted, and I wasn't going to stop until I got it. The diploma and the white robe motivated me.
One of the tricks to succeeding in the IB program, I believe, is great teachers. There wasn't one teacher at my high school that wasn't willing to help me throughout my tough journey. These teachers are the reason I kept pushing. They wanted all of us to succeed and believed that we truly could. I don't think I could have made it through the program without their help and support. It made the difference between (as my Higher-Level chemistry teacher said) surviving and thriving.
As I start my freshman year of college, I'm not afraid of the challenges that lie ahead. I know that I can take them on and accomplish my goals if I truly set my mind to it. Yeah, I can write a damn good research paper in the process, but that's only a small part of what I learned in IB. I am more prepared for college than I thought I would be. As crazy as it sounds, working that hard and stressing that much in high school truly helped me get into college and get through college.
If you're thinking about entering an IB program, don't do it because your friends are doing it. Do it because you like the challenge. Do it because you want to prove to yourself that you can do it.
