Advice about the IB DP from a recent graduate

A Quick Note About Me:

 

My name is James Halt. I am an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma recipient. I recently graduated from City Honors School in 2024 and am now a first-year student in college.

The purpose of this mini-article is to share with you, the current Juniors and Seniors in the IB Diploma Program at City Honors, as well as future IB Diploma students, how I found immense value in the IB Diploma Program. In addition to how the program has helped me tremendously so far into my time in college.

 

The IB Diploma Program helped me join clubs and discover new areas of interest in college.

 

Initially, you may not think that the IB Diploma Program, a program focused mainly on academics, would help someone join clubs but in my experience it does. Thanks to the program's requirement for Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) I was encouraged to explore a wide range of activities, many of which I had little experience with. Joining a wide variety of clubs and learning about a variety of different topics in high school for CAS broadened my perspective on life and helped me to discover activities I now enjoy. Joining an array of clubs was something that I knew I wanted to carry over into college. Without being in the IB Diploma Program and having to fulfill CAS I am sure I would never have joined so many clubs and tried so many different experiences.

 

The IB Diploma Program helped improve my research and organizational skills.

 

Working on the IB Diploma’s required internal assessments (IAs) and Extended Essay should be seen as opportunities to improve independent research skills. Through my experience in college so far I have found these skills necessary as in many college courses you must self-study to learn the material. Thanks to the IB Diploma Program I have been prepared for these courses. Students in the IB Diploma Program are better prepared for college lectures thanks to self-study opportunities like the Extended Essay and the internal assessments.

 

The IB Diploma Program has helped me better myself by pushing me to engage in new activities for CAS and by requiring me to learn more about the topics I selected for the internal assessments (IA’s) and the Extended Essay. The IB Diploma Program holds values that should not be taken for granted.