I think that if you are successful in an IB program, a lot of schools view this as an indication that you can do the work. I have heard that given the rigid structure of IB, it makes it hard to stand out from the pack. Everyone takes the same classes so everyone looks the same. Also, some people are frustrated that they can't take certain IB courses until junior year even though they might be ready earlier. (This may be a quirk of our high school).
Of more concern to are the rumblings that I have been hearing from GT parents who have kids in our local IB program. The heavy workload leads to high burnout. First of all, about half of the kids who declare IB as Freshmen drop it by Junior year. After successfully completing IB, I'm hearing about kids who are not going to college at all (my nephew) or kids taking a year off between high school and college because the kids hate school so much. One friend's older daughter talked her younger sister out of taking IB because it was such hell. Younger sister still made it into MIT:)
I'm very conflicted about whether to steer DD10 toward or away from IB. On the plus side, it is a high school where it is okay to be smart. On the downside, if you hate school so much that you don't want to continue, it seems to defeat the purpose.
