Find Your Passion, Choose Your Pathway: The Personal Choice Diploma

Value-Driven & Passionate Learners

From the facilities to the faculty, International School Bangkok (ISB) provides students with a diverse range of courses and electives that allow students to pursue their interests and explore their passions in a meaningful way. Through outstanding teaching and learning in a nurturing environment, ISB inspires students to achieve their academic and personal potential and become passionate, reflective learners. 

As our students develop their passions, they have the opportunity to choose two possible pathways to graduation - with each pathway offering many choices in order to design an individualized education for each student. Our High School provides students with all the tools for success they might need through two high school diploma pathways: the Personal Choice Diploma pathway and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma pathway. 

Both pathways lead our students to succeed not only through university studies but beyond their academic years. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Life is a journey, not a destination” and ISB ensures that students have the opportunity to pursue their own individual journey to success. But what might this look like on the Personal Choice Diploma pathway?

What Does the Personal Choice Diploma Pathway to Graduation Look Like?

The Personal Choice Diploma pathway to graduation at ISB looks different for each student because the student builds their own program of study with guidance from our incredible team of counselors. They have the option of choosing between International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and ISB’s own rigorous courses. So long as they complete ISB’s graduation requirements, they have the flexibility to build and target their studies to a specific area of interest.  

For example, a student may choose to target their studies to the performing arts so they can devote more of their time and efforts to courses that prepare them for auditions to top art schools around the globe. Others may choose to target the sciences or athletics and physiology for future careers in medicine or athletics. Many of our personal choice students choose to take a few IB courses and earn certificates for those specific subjects as part of their personal choice pursuits. A mix of IB, AP, and ISB courses can be selected to complement each student’s interests, passions, strengths, and aims for higher education.

Continued Excellence in Academics and Higher Education

The class of 2022 demonstrated the continual success of our High School academics as our students’ remarkable achievements gained them acceptance to renowned universities all around the world such as New York University, Berklee College of Music, University of Hong Kong, the University of Manchester, Waseda University, Stanford University, Les Roches, and many more. For a list of university acceptances for 2022 please click here. 

In addition to our three school counselors who help our Personal Choice students select their courses we also provide four highly-qualified and experienced university counselors to assist students in navigating and charting their course for higher education. Students at ISB benefit from a plethora of technological resources, dedicated counselors, and top-tier faculty who help guide students as they undertake projects, manage their course load,  and volunteer and participate in extracurricular activities. These resources and guides enable our students to develop learner agency, set effective goals, and reach their full potential.

The Personal Choice Student Experience

A few of our students who chose the Personal Choice Diploma pathway to graduation, including one who is about to graduate and head off to Berklee College of Music, have shared their experiences in the Personal Choice Diploma Pathway at ISB in this video:

Whatever your passion or plans for the future - ISB has a pathway for you. For inquiries into available spaces in our High School programs, contact our admissions team here