IB till grade 10, then the Diploma or an intermediate college? Our 14 year old hasn't a clue yet

cinnamon_sandal_789917 Oct 2026

My elder one is in grade 9. At her school everyone assumes the Diploma Programme is the next step. Meanwhile every aunty at every family function asks which intermediate college we've 'booked' for EAMCET or NEET coaching. The thing is, she herself doesn't know what she wants. She likes biology, she likes debating, and she is very clear she doesn't want to sit in coaching till 9 pm. Kani we also don't want to close the Indian entrance route by default just because the DP is the easy continuation. If your child was in IB and you faced this at the end of grade 10, how did you decide? By subject, by exam, or by what the child could handle day to day? We have about a year, I know, but it feels like the conversation needs to start now 🙂

2 comments

tulsi_ladle_13917 Oct 2026
Not IB here, my son is in class 6 CBSE, but the same 'which coaching' noise has already started in our area for kids his age. Half the building has put their children in foundation batches. What I notice is that people decide based on what the neighbours are doing, not on the child. Your daughter has already told you she doesn't want late coaching. That is useful information. I would not ignore it just to keep every door open.
velvet_wave_272717 Oct 2026
I teach maths, and my son is in DP year 1 now, so I can only tell you what it looks like from inside one house. The DP workload is steady rather than spiky: internal assessments, the extended essay, CAS, all running alongside the subjects. It's very hard to add serious entrance coaching on top of that. Some students try and most end up doing one of the two badly. So the real question for your daughter isn't IB versus state board in the abstract. It's whether she wants to sit Indian entrance exams in 2029. If yes, an intermediate college is built for exactly that. If she wants options across India and abroad and isn't drawn to the exam track, the DP makes more sense. Since she mentions biology: NEET is the exam where DP content and the exam pattern sit furthest apart. I'd find out whether she's drawn to medicine itself before choosing a board for it.
- maple_notebook_492617 Oct 2026
  This matches what I've seen, though I'm going on two families I know rather than our own (we are CBSE). Can I ask, in your son's class, are there students who chose the DP and later regretted not having the entrance option? I'm curious whether that regret is common or mostly something relatives predict.
- cinnamon_sandal_789918 Oct 2026
  This is really helpful, thank you. The NEET point is exactly what I hadn't thought through. She says 'biology' but I'm not sure she means hospitals and night duties, she may just like the subject. Will talk to her this weekend without making it a big sit-down. Her chinni chelli interrupts all our serious talks anyway 😄
- maple_jamun_110518 Oct 2026
  Replying to @cinnamon_sandal_7899
  Sorry for jumping in with a different question. My son is only in class 2 and we are still deciding whether to keep him in CBSE or change later. Is it easy to come from IB into state board or CBSE in class 11, or do children struggle with the syllabus change? Everyone in our family says decide early, but nobody says what early means.