ACS is among the elite schools in the ME, although it wouldn't rank among them in Europe.

*Non-profit in an area where nearly every other school is for-profit.
*Associated with the US embassy.
*Old (relative to other schools in the area and the country)
*Pays about 10,000 USD higher than other private schools (although ADEC will match this).
*Only 3% national students.

A friend working there got hired late in the season over skype.

Not sure if that helps.

Abu Dhabi is a great place to live.

It is easy to drive around.
There are lots of sports leagues, community theatre, etc.
There is a wide selection of restaurants.
There are good beaches.
English is the lingua franca.
The weather is pretty great 8 months out of the year.
There is great golfing.
There are regular musical events, etc.

But while these are great for expats living there, they don't add much to the tourist experience.

YMMV

The biggest difference is that for-profit schools tend to be constantly expanding and looking for more students. This often means they take students when the program/school is not appropriate for that particular student (due to motivation and or English ability) and it is the teacher that essentially inherits that mess.

30-35k US. 15% tax.

Which program are you referring to? DP/MYP/PYP?

It is like any other group of people - you get the whole spectrum from awesome to less-than-stellar.

And then depending on region, you place them in a fishbowl.

The Middle East is a big place. Which city/country?

I agree with the above.

The third option is to have AP scores high enough (4.5+) that they don't want to let you get away.

I don't. I've always felt that if a school wants me, they won't need me to remind them.

In my experience, it hasn't been true that "East Asian kids are so more advanced than your typical Western kid". Certainly, the bell curve might be a little to the right - but there are studs and duds in any group of students, especially when a large percent of these students are working in their second language.

Within IB the most difficult math course offered is Further Mathematics, an HL course that covers the 4 possible extensions of Math HL (where only 2 are studied) as well as an additional 2 topics. There is no great demand for this course - in May 2015 only 178 kids sat the exam.

In terms of competitiveness, it places you into an awkward place that is a little bit better than having no experience but much less helpful than having actual IB experience in your subject area.

There is a dividing line in China between the Qinling mountains and the Huai river. Everything north of that line gets public heat. Everything south gets nothing. In the North, most of this heat comes from small boilers burning coal and piping hot water to residences and buildings - and the burning of this coal causes a significant decrease in air quality. So as a general rule, the North has worse air quality (but the heating is actually quite pleasant).

Once in the North, geography plays a huge role. Coastal cities (Qingdao, Dalian, etc.) tend to have their pollution blow away into the ocean. The air quality is not usually that bad (rising about 200 or 300 only a few times a year). Areas in natural depressions have can sustained terrible air quality (Beijing, Zhengzhou, Shenyang, Haerbin).

I wouldn't let air quality dissuade you from taking a post for a 3 year spell or so - other than a minor sinus infection, I never found it particularly irksome. But over a lifetime it adds up - it is estimated to reduce average life expectancy by about 5 years for someone who lives their entire life there.

YMMV,
Sitka

It really depends.

If you're in it as a tourist, then pick the location.

If you're in it as a career, pick the school that will look better on your resume.

PsyGuy wrote:
> You have to be a mercenary and be focused on the coin when going to the ME.

I get that you don't like the ME, but the Dubai and especially Abu Dhabi are extremely comfortable and easy to live in.