On Friday, December 21st, 2018, two Renton IB alumni, Tai Anthony McMillan and Isaac Elliot, returned from their respective universities to answer the questions of eager juniors and seniors enrolled in the IB program at RHS to help prepare them for college. The meeting took place in the school library during advisory.

The two went into detail about what getting into college was like after going through the IB program. They said that while IB can help greatly with preparing students for college, there are some things that IB isn’t so helpful with.

“It’s not all rainbows and unicorns.”

An IB diploma would automatically give students 15 credits at the University of Washington, but it gave nothing to McMillan at Stanford, which is very unfortunate. But, he said it doesn’t bother him too much as he was never in a rush to get through college early.

Before deciding, students should research further into their colleges of interest to avoid unforeseen loose ends.

Once in college, time management becomes more important, as there aren’t really people to make students do their work. It is very important to avoid procrastination; so rather than letting work add up and become unmanageable, they recommended buying a calendar or planner. Because if students do not keep track of their assignments, they’ll miss the due date, and there is very little leg room with due dates. The math classes taken are especially important.

“Calculus is universal.” 

The alumni also went into personal decisions they made, as well as what they hope to achieve, and rated how much they have enjoyed college so far. McMillan gave a rating of 8.9/10 and Elliot gave an 8/10.

McMillan is currently majoring in Science, Technology, and Society, but might later change his mind, while Elliot remains undeclared.

McMillan strives to keep doing better. In college, letter grades matter less than retaining information, and McMillan also hopes to do well on the MCAT.

Elliot is more focused on the social aspects than the academics and wants to keep developing friendships. He also hopes to find his purpose, whether it be socially or spiritually.