The International Academy: The Truth about What it Takes to Earn That Baccalaureate Degree

As the school’s website says, “The IA provides a unique blend of rigorous academic standards, student-centered learning, and an emphasis on global citizenship. The IA has been ranked by Newsweek magazine as one of the top public high schools in America since 2003. Additionally, US News and World Report has ranked the IA the number one high school in Michigan for college readiness, the number one IB high school in the nation and the number one high school with an open admissions policy nationally.” In other words, this school is a big deal.

The International Academy is widely respected, nationally recognized, and its East campus is right in your neighborhood. However, if you’re a parent considering enrolling your child here, there are some serious concerns to think about.

Before graduating in 2014, Hannah Drake was the typical IA attendee. She is a determined, studious, all-As student; the kind you would assume would thrive in an academically-oriented environment like the IA. But ask her mother, Kay, and you get a behind-the-scenes look at the toll that the IA can take. She admits that with the steep learning curve, Hannah slept less and with “the amount of stress she felt over getting her work done and done well, she often had headaches - the headaches that would last for days and/or have her in tears.”

Arvind and Asha Watsa, parents of Nikhil (who graduated in 2014) and Akash (who is expected to graduate in 2017), had similar experiences. Asha reveals that “Arvind and I really felt that Nikhil had lost his childhood because he would just be working and working. I think that in that sense, we were wondering if Troy High might have been a better choice.”

For some families, another school in the district is not only a better choice, but the only option. Deborah Gamelin was the inaugural PTIA President for two years, starting when the IA East opened in 2009. Her two sons, Drake and Shane attended the school from 2009-2011 and 2010-2011, respectively. Neither of the boys was able to complete high school at the IA.

“Shane did not meet a requirement at the end of his freshman year,” Deborah confesses. “We were told he could not come back in the fall to his dismay.” Drake became ill with an ulcer and “the stress of IA did not seem worth jeopardizing his health.”

It’s not like these parents hadn’t assumed the IA was going to be difficult for their children. Kay claimed that she “expected it to be academically challenging, and it was - but to a higher degree than I had anticipated.”

Arvind agrees, “I expected it to be stressful... and I didn’t see anything less.” The Watsas actually tried to dissuade their second son from attending the IA after seeing Nikhil’s  “We knew Akash had sibling preference so he beat the lottery system, plus we felt confident that he’d clear the test that they provide. So our only opportunity was to make sure he didn’t go for the test! So we tried to deter him,” Arvind laughs.

What makes the IA so problematic? Many feel that the IB program has too heavy a focus on academics, and does not leave enough room for  other extracurricular activities that are crucial to academic and social development. “They have bits and pieces of it,” Arvind admits, “but it’s not ample enough to give them the break they need.”

That doesn’t mean that playing sports and getting involved is completely out of the question. Hannah was very involved in student groups at IA and played soccer through her freshman year before swimming on Troy Athens’ swim team as a junior and senior. (It’s worth noting that the IA does not have any sports teams of its own, requiring its athletic students to join sports teams at either Troy High or Athens.)

And although students are able to participate in sports at the surrounding schools, that doesn’t mean that the coaches are understanding of their workload. In many cases, this makes it even harder for the students; they now have to balance the IA’s coursework while trying to meet the expectations of a sports team that is on a completely different schedule.

The ability to thrive at the IA and balance extracurricular activities will vary from student to student. Arvind comments that “it’s not cut out for everybody, and that’s what the parents have to be watchful of.”

In addition to the lack of extracurricular offerings provided, Kay points out that “the work level expected from the students was also far more than I thought it should be. It did not seem that the teachers coordinated their assignments very well, and projects, papers and tests seemed to be endless.”

It’s a challenge for the most diligent student to manage all of the assignments, studying, and additional enrichment programs that are encompassed within the IA’s curriculum. Asha recognizes the difference between her sons in this regard, remembering how “right at the beginning Akash told us that ‘I’m not going to stay up late like Nikhil; I’m going to bed by 10:30. That’s the latest!’” She believes he’s only broken his own curfew twice in the last two years and credits Akash’s ability to balance his time well for this feat. And most IA students will tell you this is indeed a feat.

In fact, late nights due to the homework load cost Hannah hours of sleep each night. Her mother recalls her being “grumpier and more negative.” Teenagers are often less than courteous when they don’t get an adequate amount of sleep: “My husband and I had to draw straws and the loser had to go wake her up!”

Although the IA fosters a competitive and high-pressure environment, Arvind concedes that “it does have a holistic approach to learning,” and credits this approach with Nikhil’s ability to interact with a particular situation in a more critical way that students from other schools. “If you purely look at it from an academic perspective, yes, it did benefit him.”

This academic perspective is what draws many families to the Academy. It is a well-known fact within the school that many of the students didn’t have a choice in their enrollment. Oftentimes, parents send them here demanding that they achieve the highest GPA possible in one of the most difficult schools in the country. Anything less is unacceptable. The pressure from home coupled with the expectations at school only makes the environment that much more taxing.

When looking at the caliber of student that attends the IA, you have to wonder whether or not they would academically perform just as highly at another, less rigorous high school. Kay asserts that it’s undeniable that Hannah’s experience would have been far less stressful at a different school. “I can’t imagine a public school that could or would push you like the IA did.” With two other children who attended high schools other than the IA, she can tell you that the International Academy isn’t the only place to achieve academic success. “Both Nicolas and Elizabeth have gotten into strong schools, been successful in their undergraduate  work and Nick’s success has continued into graduate school.”

Deborah’s sons found similar success after transferring from the IA. “Shane did not want to leave his friends, but by going to a different school he was able to take advantage of team sports and adjust quickly. Drake was happy to move to a different school and his anxiety lessened. He earned several college credits while at his new school and seemed to be happy with his decision to change schools.”

With more and more colleges and universities giving an increasingly smaller amount of financial aid for academic merit, the IA might be a risk for families. Colleges accept only a percentage of each high school’s applicants. This means some students are missing out on opportunities to attend their university of choice not only because of the difficulty to achieve and maintain a 4.0 here, but also due to the fact that the applicant pool at the IA leaves students being compared to a very high standard. While these students would have easily been at the top of their class at another high school, they are now somewhere in the middle, leaving colleges to choose from the best of the best. The students may be prepared for the university of their dreams by the time they graduate, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll be accepted - especially if that school is Michigan or Michigan State, where the vast majority of the IA will apply.

Over-achiever, type-A students often push themselves to the point of emotional breakdown and physical exhaustion trying to achieve the highest amount of success attainable here, but if you’re not one of them, you might not last very long. The IB Diploma Program, which spans the last two years, requires students to take a Theory of Knowledge course, write an Extended Essay (4,000-word independent research-based paper that is not a part of the regular coursework), participate in a minimum of 150 hours of creative, action and service activities (also not a part of the regular coursework), all while maintaining a high enough grade in the assessment category (not overall class grade) in eight different subjects.

Ask any IA student and they will tell you that aside from college-preparedness, all of those requirements are completely pointless unless you score a five or above (out of seven) on each of the six IB exams at the end of senior year. Without those scores, you won’t receive your IB degree with your high school diploma, so you might as well have gone to a regular high school and tried your luck at AP courses. These scores are what can earn you upwards of twenty college credits depending on the college you choose to attend after graduation.

Would Kay put her daughter through it again? “I would not choose to send her to the IA willingly... However, Hannah would have the final say and I believe she would choose the IA again. She believes her overall experience was a good one, as do I, with the friends she made, the cultural experiences she shared with friends, and the academic training more than prepared her for college.”