In general the common consensus I've found between those who took on a full IB diploma and those in partial IB was that the overall benefit is the experience, work ethic and I dare say, character building, you get from having to try and achieve what almost amounts to a intangible benefit.
There's definitely a bit of a chicken and egg argument regarding those who already have strong study skills and work ethic would succeed in the program in the first place, and how it tries to help build a little of that independent learning required for post secondary.
In having talked and joked with those from the different areas of the spectrum in my graduating class 7 years ago, cherish the masochistic experience but some admit to wishing they were only in partial because the reward isn't worth the effort for majority of people.
My opinion is that this is a program that would be best for those academically driven, goal oriented students who have a clear passion they are working towards. To get junior course credit in university for generic courses of English and various sciences might be worthwhile financially but I think for the majority of people, that easing in process of not being overwhelmed by large class institutions and having an opportunity to continue to discover yourself and your career/passion is more realistic and important after high school graduation.
Plus when you're struggling in 300 level courses when you realize it's not really your interest and no longer can rely on your high school transcript to transfer into other programs, forcing you to take recovery courses for grades, can be difficult to experience.
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