<p>As far as I've heard, colleges tend to compare you with other applicants from your school (right?). This year, there are 2 EA applicants including myself. The other EA applicant takes IBDP while I take the national curriculum because IBDP isn't accepted by a lot of universities in my country and because of affordability. Would the fact that I didn't take IBDP when it is offered in my school hurt my application in any way? I have taken a few AP exams and completed a course or two on edX.</p>
<p>Just asking out of curiosity, by the way. 
It’s not like I can change anything now anyways haha…</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. You are you, and they are completely different people. If you are really worried you can mention your reasons (especially financial, because that would be useful for MIT to know) in your interview or the extra info section at the end of your application.</p>
<p>I didn’t take advantage of a lot of the opportunities at my school, even those that my school is known nationally for, but I think I did enough of my own thing for it not to matter, and I really hope that keeps holding true after college admissions. Do you.</p>
<p>
MIT doesn’t do this – your application will be read completely independently from anyone else who’s applied from your school.</p>
<p>Yes, one of the key questions that any admissions officer is trying to understand is “What decisions did this student take regarding their education, and why?” Depending on where you live, the national curriculuum might be easier or harder than the IBDP. </p>
<p>It also might be differently focused. The IBDP is fairly broad, forcing at least the first five groups are covered (native language, foreign language, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics) plus a sixth group. Whereas, by way of contrast, a Finnish Abitur could be narrowly constructed (for example: native language, 2nd domestic languge, foreign language, philosophy).</p>
<p>There is no right or wrong answer, there is no “best” exam. Rather the admissions officers are trying to decide why you make the choices that you do. If you did not have a choice, as financial considerations took that choice away from you, then that is worth mentioning. If you had a choice but decided concretely one way or the other, then that matters too. </p>
<p>For example, a Hong Kong applicant given the choice between A-Levels and the IBDP could argue that they wanted to do A-levels as that allowed the option to do Physics, Chemistry and Biology all at the highest level, whereas had they chosen to the the IBDP, they could have only had a maximum of two of those. Or they could have chosen the IBDP for the desire to do the extended essay which ties more directly to their research interests. There is no right answer, but how you explain this does actually tell MIT a lot about what in your education is most important to you.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your inputs Lidusha, Mollie and Mikalye </p>
<p>Actually, I’ve already had my interview, so I’ll probably have to explain this in the Optional Comments section. </p>
<p>To be honest, there were two main factors that made me take my national curriculum. One is financial constraints. The other is the fact that IBDP doesn’t prepare you for the super competitive college entrance exams or secondary leaving leaving exams for medicine and engineering, as the learning style is completely different and the exams are based on the national curriculum. I wasn’t even allowed to think about applying to US universities till mid-junior year, actually. </p>
<p>I’m proud of what I’ve done with the situation either way, because I have challenged myself with the subjects I have taken. I was just wondering how admissions would look it.</p>
<p>So should I explain this to them the way I have above? I really didn’t have much of a say in this, besides choosing to take the hardest stream (fixed set of subjects) offered- a choice I don’t regret whatsoever :)</p>
<p>Also, would it really be worth mentioning in my app? I don’t want to seem like I’m making excuses or anything… one of my essays is literally about being proud of the fact that I don’t make excuses if I don’t do something right xD </p>