Hi all! I am currently in my sophomore year and am deciding on my course selections for junior year. I know that course rigor is a big factor in college admissions and I have always planned to pursue the IB Full Diploma. However, the way ASB/Student Government works at my school (an extracurricular that I am involved in & super passionate about), you must take Leadership as a 4th period. This conflicts with Full IB at my school/makes it virtually impossible. TOK also conflicts with DECA at my school, another EC that I am passionate about & hopefully will hold a leadership role in at some point. From an admissions standpoint, am I better off dropping the 2 EC’s and taking Full IB, or taking 5 IB classes but not pursuing the full diploma? If it helps, the schools I’m most interested in right now are Tulane, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian and Notre Dame. Any advice/thoughts/sharing of personal experiences would be super helpful!
You should point this out to someone in authority. It is crazy that an IB student can never participate in these activities. You really need both, leadership opportunities and a rigorous program.
Southern Methodist has a scholarship for IB Diploma students.
https://www.smu.edu/EnrollmentServices/FinancialAid/TypesOfAid/Scholarships/Academic/IBScholars
If you have your college counselor explain in the counselor’s report why you’re not pursuing the full diploma, it should be fine. A girl in my daughter’s class who is not pursuing the diploma was accepted ED to Bowdoin this year. And last year we had a similar student accepted at University of Chicago. My D’s counselor says it’s all in how it’s presented. Not to mention, I think it’s more meaningful to spend your time on something you’re truly passionate about. Best of luck to you!
My daughters both faced this and decided to pursue what they loved, but never sacrificing rigor. They wouldn’t have been able to pursue some courses of interest and leadership opportunities in their schedule had they chosen to pursue the IB Diploma program. For my girls, they were accepted to excellent colleges and have never looked back.
Meet with your counselor to let them know the end goal and help build a schedule that helps get you there.
I am a teacher in an IB school, Notre Dame Alum (ND Law 98 and ACE 2004), as well as being a father of a IB diploma candidate who got into ND REA. I also am friends with two people who are in the admissions department at ND (we live in South Bend). ND loves IB Diploma students. They know they work hard and will be successful at ND. Our school routinely has 10-15 IB Diploma candidates get accepted there each year. Also the stats are pretty clear that IB Diploma Candidates are accepted at top 30 universities at double or more the acceptance rate of Non-IB students. Hope that helps.
I would also look at IB Credit at each of the schools.
ND looks like it just gives you credit for a 6 or 7 for HL tests.
TCU gives you credit for a 5 or 6 or 7 for HL tests.
There are other colleges that give you extra credit for the IB diploma, e.g. SUNY Binghamton so just make sure you check each college.
Personally I think an IB Diploma will prepare you well for college work.
If not, drop an SL class, not an HL as you can get college credit from the HLs.