International Baccalaureate Diploma Program

The IB Advantage in University Admission and Retention

IB diploma candidates are accepted into more prestigious universities. They receive more financial assistance. They accumulate more advanced placement college credit. They get higher grades and express greater satisfaction with their college experience. IB is not only "education for life." It is the finest college preparatory curriculum in the world.

Nearly every graduate of The Laboratory School plans to attend college, with the vast majority choosing four-year universities. Students who apply to selective colleges are expected to have taken on the most rigorous curriculum available at the high school level. The "IB" designation on a transcript assures universities of a very high standard of quality, as does the reception of the Diploma after graduation, making IB Diploma candidates most attractive to the nation's best colleges and universities, in both admission and financial aid.

An examination of selective admission universities' advanced placement credit awards will indicate the high esteem in which IB is held by American universities. Harvard University offers full sophomore standing to Diploma Graduates, subject to a year's satisfactory performance at the sophomore level. All members of the University of Florida system provide the same recognition. Closer to home, Southeastern Conference universities typically award credit based on individual examination scores, with a "4" or "5" earning three semester hours and higher scores earning greater credit. Some schools accept SL exam scores for college credit, while others only award the credit for HL exams. Many universities cap their IB credit at 45 semester hours.

Since approximately 70% of Lab School graduates attend LSU in a typical year, a closer look at its IB recognition policies seems appropriate. Ours is the first school in Louisiana to offer IB, so LSU admission officers acknowledge that IB applicants are not common. They regard IB Diploma candidates as "most attractive" for university scholarships and award considerable college credit for passing scores on the higher level IB exams. A score of "4" on HL exams will earn three semester hours, while higher scores will earn as many as nine semester hours.

Two studies of IB Diploma graduates reveal that IB students not only do better at getting into college; they also do better and are more satisfied once accepted. In the first, 88% of IB Diploma holders compared with 41%of students who earned at least some AP credit maintained a "B" average or better through their first year of college. In the second, the average drop in grade point average between high school and college was twice as high for college preparatory students as for IB Diploma students, and the IB students were twice as likely to rate themselves "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" with their college experience.

Parents and students who wish to investigate the IB difference in college admission are encouraged to discuss the issue with college admissions officers and financial aid counselors.