Hi, this might seem like a stupid ask but it’s been on my mind for so long now and I need more opinions. Also I read the rules and I’m not TECHNICALLY an IB student YET and I’m also gonna get pretty personal so take down this post if I go to far.
I am someone who puts way to much pressure on myself, I strive to be perfect in everything I do and it has caused me a lot of stress. I have had REALLY high anxiety and school has often caused me to have sucidal thoughts and self harm wishes and stuff. All that fun stupid mental health stuff. But despite that I have really good grades (as of right not) and a super good work ethic and like never procrastinate!!!
Even with this my course rigor is relatively light (Only 2 honors classes and AP Art) My IB schedule certainly isn’t the hardest one out there (My HLs are all humanities and my science class is IB Sports) I’ve been really wanting to do the IB program since I was in freshman year but the stress it might put on my is my biggest concern. I know IB is super stressful and demanding and trying to handle extracariculars on top of that might be a death sentence for me (I would like to have a job, be in school plays, and consitently be able to manage my homework and practice piano and just being able to have fun and do art :( ) I know those might not sound like the most sophisticated use of my time but they are really important to me. To me IB seems like it actively encourages learning rather than memorization like AP. But i’ve also heard terrible things about IB and heard that I might not be able to manage all of those things and stay on top of my IB work. In my second semester I have built in a extra study hour for myself but I do not have that first semester.
I was hoping I could get feedback from real IB students rather than “fear mongers” on TikTok that act like IB is totally worthless and will ruin your life. And maybe it is! Maybe I’m just in denial. As you can see I’m quite out of sorts but I’d still like to know if it’s really as bad as they say it is :(