I am a sophomore in an IB school, and in school we’re starting to discuss about selecting courses for IB DP next year. My temporary choices for now are:
English L&L SL
Global Politics HL
Math HL
Physics HL
Chemistry SL
(foreign language class) SL
I’m certain about taking math and physics as HL, since I’m planning to pursue a major in the area in the future. I’m uncertain about my 3rd HL class choice (Global Politics, for now).
I’m pretty new to IB, so I have a few questions:
Does taking 4 HL classes in the beginning and dropping one (to SL) early in the junior year a common thing? (I'm considering this route since I'm uncertain about my third option, but some of my classmates are skeptical of it.)
Is Chemistry HL a rigorous course? Will Physics and Chemistry HL be too much of a burden?
If anybody has taken the pilot class for Global Politics HL, could you please give me an overview of what the course is going to be like?
It isn't that common honestly. The people in my school who took 4 HL classes stuck with it because dropping the class and "downgrading" shows up on your transcript. We were told that the first thing colleges might ask is "why did you drop the class?" Technically, moving from HL to SL does count as a class drop (transcript-wise)
Yes, Chemistry HL is a rigorous course. All HL classes are. We don't have Physics HL in my school, but I've been double sciencing in IB Bio HL and IB Chem HL. It's do-able. Actually, taking both classes seems to be helping me in both classes because what you learn in one class is pretty applicable to the other class.
It depends on the school. At my school, somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of my diploma class went with 4 HLs. These were generally the kids who decided to take Math HL. From what I remember the workload was definitely doable, but wasn’t always worth the extra effort (eg colleges didn’t give credit for some of the classes or students didn’t do as well as they could have on the exams). Keep in mind that, if you go to a standard US high school with an IB program, your IB scores only matter for awarding credit at your chosen university.
If I were you I’d try to take Chem HL as opposed to Global Politics. Chem HL is rigorous, but definitely doable if you put the time in - and if you do well enough you can get credit for college gen chem.
Only you know whether you would be taking on more than you can chew by taking 4 HLs. I wouldn’t recommend it. IB automatically gets “most rigorous” designation so the extra HL has little effect upon admissions while adding considerably to stress and time spent - keep in mind that you’ll need to devote time to EC’s junior year (EC’s are likely to be the differentiator at highly selective schools) and you will have the equivalent of an extra class with all those college essays.
As for your choice of HLs, I’d say the 3 you’ve chosen are good. Math and Physics are a good combination, and NOT being too stemy is very important in highly selective admissions, ie., show some versatility so having a social science HL is good. In addition, as a future Math/Physics major, having Global politics HL will certainly result in gen ed credits, depending on the university either 1 semester’s worth or two semester’s worth, freeing one or two slots for you to take classes of your choice. As for your SL’s, you should make sure to register for the AP exam that corresponds, since US colleges don’t give credit for SLs but do give credit for AP exams, and a reasonably good SL student should be able to score a 4 on an AP exam in that subject, thus getting credit. (You’d only “take” the credit for FL and English but with Global Politics and skipping ahead in both Math and Physics, you’d start your college career well.)
Keep in mind that Math HL is excellent preparation for a Math major but is much harder than Calc BC.
Thank you everyone It’s been a while since I’ve posted this, but these comments are still really helpful since I’m still pondering on my choices. I’ll probably make up my mind to start with 3 HLs, and I’m definitely sticking to Math and Physics HL. I’m still not quite sure what my last HL will be.
I’ve thought it over and it’s likely that I’ll start Global Politics as an SL if I choose to take it, but I was also considering Econ as my last HL course as well; it gives me an HL in the social studies group (not being too “stemy”, as MYOS said) and it’s also somewhat mathematical as well.
My other HL choice could be CompSci, since I was considering computer science to be one of my potential majors in College. Chem HL would be a good choice if I was geared more towards engineering, but that’s a field that I’m uncertain about for now. The problem is that with a CompSci HL, I would have three STEM subjects at the end of the day and this wouldn’t be a smart choice if I were to apply for selective colleges.
This hopefully is my last decision for my course selection, and I would appreciate it if I can get some feedback.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted this, but these comments are still really helpful since I’m still pondering on my choices. I’ll probably make up my mind to start with 3 HLs, and I’m definitely sticking to Math and Physics HL. I’m still not quite sure what my last HL will be. 
