Diploma Dual / Bachillerato Dual Americano

Hello,

Maybe better to send your daughter to public school, it’s free and better in general.

The diplomas from a Spanish public school are valid in all Europe.

The concertado schools are expensive and not better, its their marketing you pay.

Bachillerato is the examen organised by the government at the end of the high-school to determinate wat kind of university study's are accessible to the students

My children are going to a public school in Barcelona 

@Julia DH

It seems perfectly plausible that she gets 2 high school diplomas, one from Spain and one from USA.

Only you (and your daughter) can decide if there's a benefit to doing the extra work and getting 2 diplomas instead of 1. If you've got a spare 7k burning a hole in your pocket, then why not? :-) But I'm guessing these are the fees for the dual diploma program, not the fees for the Spanish school that offers it (for the Spanish diploma)? So perhaps it's quite cost-effective to save ALL these fees by going to a public high school and only getting 1 diploma?

One advantage might be that the Spanish diploma is based on Spanish language education, while the American diploma is based on English language education. While a lot more work for your daughter, this would mean that she would be bilingual. And should not be required to take any English language proficiency tests for university admissions. This is a lot less useful if you think she will apply to a Spanish university. :-)

Personally, I do speak (badly) foreign languages, and I have studied abroad. But it's a huge jump to study a university degree that's not in your native language. There are folks that think a British or American university degree is very prestigious, but I would not personally encourage anyone to do this if there are well-respected universities in their own country (which there definitely are in Spain).

Even if your daughter wanted to apply for a UK or American university, I don't think I'd recommended a dual high school diploma. I would suggest she concentrate on her Spanish diploma (in her native language), and focus on getting the best grades possible, rather than diluting her effort in order to get 2 diplomas with mediocre grades. During her Spanish high school you can pay for extra English language tuition, or do some kind of intensive English language course after high school is over. Plus an intensive course for an appropriate university language exam (IELTS or equivalent) to get the best possible score.

You should also note that many (most?) American universities don't want merely a high school diploma. They want a good score on an appropriate standardized test (SAT, GRE, etc.). This is a whole separate rigmarole than can be a lot of work and expense (often with intensive coaching on this alone).

Thank you Tomas and gwynj for your replies.

I'd still like to hear from someone who has/had direct experience with Academica, to know if it's recognized in the US/internationally.

Sorry, I should've mentioned my husband is American and my daughter is bilingual, so apart from the cultural benefit of this program, I'd like to know if it'd help her in terms of doing higher education studies in the US or would she have to go through the same hoops as the Spanish Bachillerato students? Conversely, if she decides to pursue higher education in Europe, would having an American highschool diploma (if it really is a valid one-which is my main concern) offer any benefits?

I'd also appreciate any answers from people who had direct experience with the IB ibo.org

is is worth the extra work in order to get a place at the uni students want compared to a Spanish one?

Thank you!

@Julia DH

Hopefully, someone who has had "direct experience" will reply. But, unfortunately, many folks who pay 7k for something tend not to be objective, and will be likely to tell you how great it was! :-)

As per my previous reply, it seems like a plausible program... if you want two high school diplomas. The partner institutions appear credible, and it seems to be accredited. It's been going for many years, and has lots of students. There are no red flags for me. What have you spotted that makes you concerned?

In terms of its utility, I already tried to address that. It's just one opinion, of course, but you only need one high school diploma to get into university. So what's the point of a second one? It's probably interesting and there might well be cultural benefits... but it's extra work (for your daughter, not you). As I suggested, better to put extra work into one high school diploma and better grades... rather than two diplomas with mediocre grades. If your daughter is supersmart and you think she will get all As in both... then I still don't see the point! :-)

The extra hoop for foreign (non-Anglophone) students (applying to English language education whether in UK, USA or elsewhere) is the language proficiency. A test (IELTS or equivalent) will almost certainly be required. If you have a US high school diploma (which is an education in English), it's possible that this could be accepted instead (but I doubt it, because it's not a full-time program in USA). In any case, if your daughter is already bilingual then a 7k HSD is a very expensive way of proving this! :-) She could probably take the IELTS tomorrow, and get a good enough score to satisfy a university - and for a lot less money and time.

What universities look at is grades, principally. So lousy grades = bad. But many universities are very competitive, so perfect grades (or near-perfect grades) are merely necessary, but NOT sufficient. You then (especially for USA schools) have to top this up with fantastic application essays and stellar extracurriculars. Again, the time spent on a 2nd diploma leaves less time to work on these things.

Finally, as I noted, many/most USA universities require standardized tests. This is a LOT of work. There's no point have great grades, but a lousy standardized test score. Last time I did this, I spent MONTHS on it. That's because everybody can do OK... so the only way to get some visibility is to be 98th or 99th percentile, and that takes serious work, even if you're a top-of-the-class student.

As to applying in Europe, they'll all be happy with a Spanish HSD, so again a 2nd one is superfluous. (But if it's a German degree, for example, then a language proficiency test at B2  would probably be required.)

As a wild guess... maybe this is more to do with your husband being American, and your daughter being bilingual. Americans, generally, seem to imagine that their education is the best in the world. So perhaps you're heading down this route because you have been convinced of this too?

Don't get me wrong: if your daughter can get into Stanford or MIT or Harvard, it will be a real feather in her cap, and great for her career.

But what USA education certainly is (like USA medical treatment): the most outrageously expensive in the whole world! Whereas, some EU countries (e.g. Germany) even have free tuition, and most of the others are not expensive. If you're concerned about 7k euros... wait until you start looking at the 50k per year to go to a US university. :-)

Plus, they are insanely competitive to get into, just have a read on the internet. You need ALL the stuff I referred to above. And it's just a HUGE amount of work.

But, let's say your daughter is a Gilmore Girl, and she has her heart set on Harvard. :-) AND you have the money to pay for it! Then, of course, you need a plan for how to build the best possible application package. You need a 4.0 (perfect grades), and a 99% percentile standardized test score, plus great extracurriculars and a compelling application essay. Only an admissions tutor can tell us how much value they would attach to 2nd HSD, but my suspicion is very little, sorry. :-)

If you're serious (or your daughter is serious) about a USA university application, you have to do what they want... not what you think they want. :-) There's loads of info online that will confirm what I'm saying you need.

Unless your husband is a graduate of Harvard or Wharton or MIT or somewhere equivalently stellar. Then there is a big family preference that kicks in, so your daughter's chances shoot up. But you still need the grades and the standardized test, it's not a freebie. :-) Leaving this aside, you're dealing with the sheer volume of applications (from outstanding candidates) and the ridiculously low acceptance rates... maybe 5% ish? European universities (even the very best in Spain and Germany and UK) are probably a lot closer to 20%. With a lot less work for each application.

Writing this is bringing me out in a cold sweat thinking about when I did this. What a nightmare!

And after all that work, when I got accepted... I ended up declining my place!! I went... you want HOW MUCH??!! It was around $60k (and this was 20 years ago) per year x 2 years (master's not a bachelor) PLUS big city living expenses. Or 10k per year x 1 year at Oxford, instead? With small-town living expenses, including subsidized student accommodation. It wasn't a tough decision. :-) Of course, in hindsight, I can see that it would have been very cool to have an MIT degree, especially after doing all that work to get accepted... and I probably would have had much better jobs in the years after. But I don't regret the decision, an Oxford graduate degree is not such a terrible outcome.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, this is all extremely useful!

@gwynj I don't get your reply.Surprised to see one as I thought my ad didn't go through.

Julia, this may/may not be worthy of considering, but your daughter can always get her GED online for far less than 7K euro. While it's not--obviously--the same as a high school diploma from the US, if your daughter scores high enough on these tests she may be able to place into many universities in the US.The entire GED course of placement should cost approximately $500 including the 4 practice tests and the 4 subject tests.