<p>I've recently been informed that I will be spending my last two years of high school in Santiago, Chile. Unfortunately, my current school does not offer a high school diploma, but the Chilean national diploma, which is not exactly what you'd want written on your academic curriculum when applying to top schools in the US (in comparison to the American high school diploma). Although I will be taking the IB, the ECAs and courses offered by my current school are, to be honest, quite lacking. To compensate for what I consider to be a below-average course load, I am considering online classes; a few APs, US History, and some high level English course to make up for the IB A2 English offered at my school (which is what ESOL students are taught.)</p>
<p>So, international students all over the world, I ask you, what are your experiences with online courses? Any particular site that you can recommend?</p>
<p>If the Chilean high school offers the full IB diploma, you are set academically to apply to the top American universities. Online classes seem like the genuinely wrong approach to me. Think about the message you are sending: “The school does not offer the classes and activities I want, hence I will retreat from my environment and hide behind a computer screen all day.” Why would a university that can cherry-pick its student body admit that student instead of a student who has gone out and made a difference?</p>
<p>And as b@r!um has written above, a full IB program is a full IB program wherever in the world you happen to complete it. That is the whole intent of that program!</p>