Alumni

Ms Estee Caplan, Class of 2011

DP was hard, I won’t lie.

But it was worth it in the end because it meant that university wasn’t all that hard (for me).

Working in Admissions, parents often ask me about the benefits of the IB and, more specifically, the DP. I always give them this example: In my first-year English course, the first assignment was to read a chapter in the book we would be studying and write a 550 to 750-word commentary essay on it. Many students around me gasped and started discussing how hard the first assignment was. I agreed, it was a hard task. But it was hard for me in a different way. They were worried about writing a minimum of 550 words or understanding what a commentary was. I was worried about staying under 750 words. I was used to writing 1500-word commentaries. Turns out, university and my courses were easy to navigate thanks to Raha and the IB. I knew how to research and ask the right questions, I knew how to find and cite quality sources, I knew how to manage my workload and time efficiently. I spent more time figuring out how to live on my own, and being responsible for myself, rather than learning how to learn, or managing my learning and I still use many of the skills I learned at school today.

There is much more I could say but, in short, Raha and the IB helped me grow, learn and become the person I am today.