<p>My school offers an International Bacheloriate(IB) program, but out our class sizes of about 550, usually only about 5 graduate with it. The program is very rigorous at my highschool, especially on top of sports. Extracurriculars, and other challenging AP courses. </p>
<p>My question is, will receiving the Academic Honors Diploma but not the IB diploma hurt my chances of getting into the top schools I am looking at :
-Stanford
-Duke
-Northwestern
-Vandy
-Emory
-UNC
-Pitt
-W&M
-USC</p>
<p>Any help is greatly appreciated! :)</p>
<p>From what I’ve gathered from my guidance counselor and recent (HS) graduates, it will help. </p>
<p>Obviously, if you had no chance, you still won’t have a chance. I’m not doing it for college; I’m doing it because it fosters intellectual curiosity and critical thinking. Plus the IB teachers at my school are top notch - way better than many non-IB teachers. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m sure if you take the highest level courses at your HS, you’ll be okay. It’s really a matter of personal preference. For example, I won’t be able to take some classes I wanted to, like AP Physics and the AP Govs, but IB, for me, is worth it.</p>
<p>@IBObsessed:</p>
<p>Thank you for the feedback! </p>
<p>The thing is, I’m taking just about all of the IB classes, for the same reasons( better teachers/curriculum).</p>
<p>I have only skipped out on one, but since I am not pursuing the IB diploma, I will not be taking IB tests. I guess my question should be, how much different will this look to colleges ( no IB diploma but IB courses)? Thanks again!</p>
<p>Anytime!</p>
<p>There are plenty of people at my HS who take IB classes without pursuing the Diploma Program. Actually, this is what the majority does (probably 15 people per class complete the DP). The people who don’t take the full IB curricula, however, may take the tests for the classes they take - I think they get a certificate of some sort. Are you sure you won’t be taking the tests? </p>
<p>At my school, some of the IB and AP classes are co-administered. For example, AP Lit students may take either the AP Lit exam, or the IB English HL exam - most opt for the AP, but obviously IB students take the IB exam. There’s also AP/IB Biology; non-IB kids take AP/IB Biology (which is basically an easier version of Bio SL, but I think they can still say they took IB Bio), but IB kids take IB Biology SL. </p>
<p>I think the difference will be minuscule if you’re taking the hardest classes offered otherwise. I believe the reason acceptance rates for IB students are higher is because these students tend to be stronger applicants, not solely because of the DP. </p>
<p>What’s the reason you skipped the class/classes you did? At my school, many people can’t pursue the program because they’re into engineering and the engineering program doesn’t fit in with the DP. Obviously, I think the DP is the best preparation for liberal studies, but I may be a little biased… :)</p>
<p>@IBobsessed:</p>
<p>Haha, I am guessing you took the IB route for liberal arts then? 
</p>
<p>Addressing your first point, I guess I had never even considered the certificates. I had been thinking that the IB tests were only really for the IBers pursuing the DP. I’ve been taking AP test but would love to get some certificates as well. Is that possible? Do you know how one goes about doing this and if it helps? </p>
<p>Also, the reason I could not get the diploma now is because I really wanted a science heavy junior schedule with lots of AP courses, and to take all of the sciences I wanted, I needed to drop IB world literature. I had been in the pre-IB English 9&10 classes, so I already had a semester of regular English 11(American literature) out of the way from my advanced English 10 class. That’s the main reason I switched out because then I could stack my second semester history class on the same schedule slot as my English 11(composition) class! It all worked out and I have no regrets, my Junior GPA was a 4.94 But, at the same time it would be cool to recieve certificates in Spanish/ Calculus/ TOK etc.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the help! Let me know if you know anything else about this certificate process!</p>