A Conundrum.

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi! I'm Jvalin. I'm an international student currently in India. I'm a student at DPS RKP (<a href="http://www.dpsrkp.net%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.dpsrkp.net&lt;/a&gt;) for the past 13 years (I've completed grade 11). For those who don't know, the admissions coordinators from Ivy universities who come to our school say that under the Indian high school education system, an annual percentage of 85% is very good for the Ivy Universities.</p>

<p>So, here lies my problem: My dad, an officer with the Indian Revenue Service, is getting posted to Brussels, Belgium on official work for a period of three years. As you might imagine, I will be completing my 12th grade in Brussels from the International School of Brussels (ISB).</p>

<p>Now, my academic scores from 9th, 10th and 11th are 88%, 90%, 82% respectively. I slacked a bit in 11th, but hey, 11th is tough ;) In India, students have to choose a particular stream (Science, Commerce, Humanities). I chose Science stream which includes the subjects: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Economics, English.</p>

<p>I took my SAT I on May 7, 2011, and I'm expecting 2100+ I'm also currently studying for my SAT Subject tests (Math II and Physics, a slight chance of Chemistry also). I intend to give AP tests next May.</p>

<p>At my new school, ISB - which I'm yet to join (starting 12th grade from August) - I'm being provided with two choices: International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placements (AP) classes.</p>

<p>Now, as you may know, in IB, a student needs to choose 6 subjects, Science (Physics), Humanities (Economics), Student's-choice (Chemistry), Two languages (English, French). Here lies the dilemma, you see, I studied French as a third language from grade 4 through grade 8; as a second language in grade 9 and 10. You can imagine the how less I'm acquainted with the language as a subject. I'm worried that I might not do well with French as a language. However, I'm quite comfortable with taking the AP classes, because I think I would be able to do better in one year with AP curriculum than with an entirely different IB curriculum.</p>

<p>We all know that the most selective colleges explicitly state that a student should take advantages of the most difficult classes provided to him/her which at ISB - and generally - is the IB curriculum.</p>

<p>Do you understand? I want to do my best in grade 12. Overshadow my 82% in grade 11. But IB would be difficult to get high marks in because of French, whereas AP is much more manageable considering that I would be in a completely new environment with only one year to adapt.</p>

<p>So should I go with AP or IB?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this behemoth of a post, and helping me out :)</p>

2

<p>Hey, my mom went there. And then to AIIMS and to St. Stephens. Whats your rank at DPS? My mom’s was 3. Also, You should know that out of the entire India
Harvard Accepted 3 indians
Yale Accepted 9 indians
Princeton Accepted 12 indians
UPenn Accepted 13 indians
Dartmouth accepted 14
Brown accepted 24. </p>

<p>This is out of the India as a whole. Have you thought of going/ trying for IIT?</p>

3

<p>Hi Tizil7,</p>

<p>Go with AP, the reason why I am advicing you so is because 90% in grade 10th is less, though admission co ordinators from Ivy said that 85% is good, but it isn’t good enough, if you go through profiles of indian students who get into ivies, i think the average would be around 93-94.</p>

<p>So to make up for that, go for AP and score high instead of screwing up IB’s BUT do not take your decision right away. If only french is the problem, lay more stress on it, prepare good and go for IB. </p>

<p>Also, ivies are a lot more than just high school percentages(obviously they count a lot), your EC’s should be strong, an impressing essay and a very high(2300 or +) SAT.</p>

<p>I wish you good luck for your future.</p>

4

<p>Thanks Omesh, haha yeah, I’ve written two books :slight_smile:
Planning on trying my hand at social service soon!</p>

<p>Yeah Jenga, I was in VMC Regular, but had to leave it because I’m going outside India.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions everyone :)</p>

5

<p>Name the books please, I’m really into reading these days.</p>