Planning for the Future: Is IB the Answer?

Overview

Bright and motivated high school students often choose to take the most rigorous classes possible in high school. The question then becomes why should a motivated, high achieving student subject himself/herself to the rigors of the International Baccalaureate Program (IB)? In this investigation, data were gathered from the websites of 75 different universities, 25 private and 50 public schools, in regards to their average admission statistics and preferences towards admitting students from IB and other programs like AP. The resulting data gathered from each university’s website was then coupled with data from financial surveys like Forbes in order to define a new composite variable, the International Baccalaureate Friendliness (IBF) Index. This constructed variable was then compared to other portions of the raw data set to determine if IB provided any advantages to students applying to college. Results show that IB students applying to a “Top 25” university are admitted based on different academic parameters with less of an influence upon their work in IB, whereas students applying to a public university with an IB diploma can expect to be admitted to the most rigorous public institutions available. Oftentimes how a student is perceived by a university is unpredictable, but in general, the IB program provides ample rigor for all forms of top tier higher education.

Competition history

• ISEF 2014 Materials Science · Entry MA055

Resources

• ISEF abstract page ↗

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