Brockenhurst College, Baccalaureate... talk to me!

mr_maniac

Hey everyone :smile:

Right, I'll explain my situation here. I am in Year 11, already have 5 A*-A grades :smile:

and therefore am looking to choose my college, and indeed my courses.

I am seriously considering going to Brockenhurst "Brock" College to go study the International Baccalaureate, but I need you people who go there to:

a) Tell me how great or rubbish the college is and/or
b) Tell me how good the IB is there

I need to know this pretty sharpish because I am about to start with application forms and such like.. It's a big daily journey for me to go to Brock (an hour on changing trains each way) so tell me - should I do the IB, and should I do it there??

Regards, mr_m

Reply 1

username68316

I strongly doubt you'll get many meaningful responses to this thread, unless pezking responds.

But i go there now. I do A Levels so can't really help you with the IB. I know a fair few people who do it, and they enjoy it. I think last year a couple of people doing it managed to get into cambridge, so it must be OK. The college itself is good (for a state funded FE college!), and get's good results most years. Personally i'm really glad I came here as I would have done alot worse had I stayed at school. But yeah. If you need any more info, feel free to PM me.

Reply 2

mr_maniac

Cheers for that Nathan - any responses from people doing the IB, or going to Brockenhurst, are helpful here :smile:

Regards, mr_m

Reply 3

soup_dragon87

The BBC rates all state schools and colleges, so check here.

The IB, in my opinion, is better than A Levels. It's more widely recognised internationally, it gives a broader education (therefore better IMO) and it's the future in this country. A Levels are on the way out methinks. I did A Levels and found they really pushed me in a certain direction, whereas the IB, as I understand it, keeps your options open for longer. If I'd had the choice, I'd do the IB.

Reply 4

belle_27

I don't do the IB but it runs at my school, my year was the first to have it on offer but from what I got told by friends and heard in general was that it was A LOT of hard work, the amount of work they have is enormous and they are given really high university offers to meet as universities aren't aware of how hard it is to achieve a 7.

For example, the typical offer for Physics at Imperial is AAB at A Level whereas for IB its 7 7 6 with 7s in higher level physics and maths and 38 points overall whereas the equivalent offer to the A Level one would be 6 6 5 in higher levels with an overall pass overall, which would be 24 points. Also, some universities state that the overall score should be 40 minus bonus points of which there are 3, which is saying they basically want the top mark (7) in every subject minus 2, which is extremely hard to achieve as very few people achieve 7s!

Basically, if you're willing to do the hard work and are genuinely interested in the programme then go ahead and do it but don't do it because you think that A Levels aren't regarded as good enough anymore, do it because you want to. As in the long run i.e. career-wise people say that you're not really given an edge with it. Though people do say it gives you a capacity for working hard and getting things done in a short space of time so if you're planning to apply to Oxbridge then it would help you deal with the workload.

Reply 5

mr_maniac

Cheers everyone who replied :smile:

One thing regarding UCAS weighting of IBs - a recent newly-proposed UCAS tariff weighs 40 on the IB course with 652 UCAS points (as of the 2008 exams which I will be sitting), where as 4 A's at A-level are worth just 480 points... that shows where it's heading in the future... IB is UCAS's favourite course by far...

here's the UCAS tariff: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/candq/tariff/tariff_sep06.doc

Regards, mr_m

Reply 6

kat1311

im probably really not much help but here goes...

im very new to wiltshire and the south east but i have heard great things about brockenhurst as a college. with regards to IB in general, i think it is probably a better option than a levels especiallly if your an international student or think about uni abroad. however i would say that some unis dont recognise it and of course it is much harder to find books, websites etc than a levels.

Hope this is of a tiny bit of help

Reply 7

dollymixtures64

HorrorShow

I strongly doubt you'll get many meaningful responses to this thread QUOTE]

I do IB at Brock actually and I have just sent him a long personal message about the pros and cons. Better late than never. :biggrin: