Retention of VELS subjects for VCE

[EvangelionZeta]

To be honest I think splitting a school between IB and VCE is a really bad idea.  It creates segregation between the year 11s/year 12s (seriously, ask any school offering both and they'll report something like that), and it also splits resources, creating situations where schools have to cope with teaching two different systems and, as a result, two different types of materials.  For those really curious, IB also doesn't really give you an advantage over VCE; all the top US universities don't look at either really (they just use the SATs), and other prestigious universities such as Cambridge and Oxford accept VCE.  The latter also addresses Rohitpi's point - I don't see how the government could possibly see preventing schools from doing IB would keep private schools from providing International Accredition...

In general, you'd also be surprised at how powerful school councils can be, especially when they're supported by the donations of past students who like to cling on to tradition.  At Melbourne Grammar in the 1980s/1990s, there was a push to make the school co-ed.  However, the Old Melburnians (old students) said they would strip funding from the school if they did that, because they essentially didn't want things to be changed.  Same principle might be why a lot of really prestigious schools with long traditions (eg. Melbourne High, MacRob) don't offer IB.

[bomb]

EZ would it be easier to get into Oxford/Cambridge through IB?

I wanted to go to Oxford and they wanted a 40 IB or ATAR equivalent: http://www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/ib_notional_enter.pdf

Getting in the top 10% (90+ ATAR) is only equivalent to a 33 IB..seems kinda low.
My ATAR only gets a 37..I had no chance

[EvangelionZeta]

EZ would it be easier to get into Oxford/Cambridge through IB?

I wanted to go to Oxford and they wanted a 40 IB or ATAR equivalent: http://www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/ib_notional_enter.pdf

Getting in the top 10% (90+ ATAR) is only equivalent to a 33 IB..seems kinda low.
My ATAR only gets a 37..I had no chance

Not really.  Getting a 40 in IB is around as hard as it is to get the 98.5 (possibly moving towards higher 98s, even, possibly low 99s) in VCE, judging from the people I know who got that particular score. 

[bomb]

Hmm fair enough. Just converting my ATAR which sounds pretty decent to an IB score makes it sound kinda weak

Felt like I may have had a better chance at 40 through IB than through my ATAR, seems not =\

[EvangelionZeta]

Think about it this way.  A 7 in IB is something like 45+ (scaled?), a 6 closer to low-mid 40s, and a 5 mid-high 30s.  The IB is calculated by adding up your score in all six subjects, so that's like 30 if you get six 5s, which in VCE terms would translate to around 155 using my approximations thingy.  Then add in the mark out of 3 for the EE/TOK, and say you got like 1 (which is an averageish score), that's about 31, which is like 87 - pretty close to what you would have gotten for the VCE. 

Obviously I'm working with rough estimates, but it's deceptively hard to get a high score in IB (just as many people don't realise how hard it is to get a high score in VCE...).

[fuzzylogic]

To be honest I think splitting a school between IB and VCE is a really bad idea.  It creates segregation between the year 11s/year 12s (seriously, ask any school offering both and they'll report something like that), and it also splits resources, creating situations where schools have to cope with teaching two different systems and, as a result, two different types of materials. 

It's not as bad as you make it sound.  Okay, i have to admit some IBers did have some sort of superiority complex, but meh.  Having gone to a VCE/IB school, the segregation isn't that bad- you still have friends who do IB even if you do VCE, and although you don't share classes, there's always lunchtimes, recesses, extracurricular activities.  At our school at least VCE/IB go hand in hand and help each other-- I can say, I've benefited from there being a plethora of IB Higher level maths books in our maths resource room that are as equally accessible to IB students as to us VCE students.  The physics HLers had to do a self-designed prac, and we were able pool resources with them for our own pracs, as well as watch and learn from the IB year 12s in year 11.  Also, the fact that your IB friends have to do community service and a certain amount of sport and music seems to get VCE students who would otherwise avoid such activities get involved.  Perhaps not as important, I know my reading list has expanded exponentially just by talking to friends doing IB and getting interested in the glorious World Literature they get to dabble in...plus, there have been many interesting conversations about 'the meaning of life' and whether 'a chair is really a chair' thanks to ToK!
While I'm not personally a big fan of IB as a whole, in my honest opinion, a school can only be stronger from offering both VCE and IB!