How will dropping full-IB but still taking all IB classes affect admisson?

Applying to College
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So, I am thinking of Dropping full IB but still taking all IB classes. At my school, that is extremely doable and not super weird. This would mean I would take the classes but not have to take the additional out side of school commitments such as the extended essay (~20ish page essay about a topic), log my service, activity, and creativity hours with the IB coordinator, Doing internal assesment projects (that only the full IB kids do and a 10-20~ page paper in each subject including the appendix), writting a theory of Knowlege paper and taking the tests. I will still take the IB Psychology test since that is an intended major and I already have the internal assessment completed and a fee waiver so why not. Also I already tested in mathematics SL.

Bassicly, I don’t want to spend time on my extended essay, TOK essay and internal assessments, (all are outside of class at my school) when I could be working on supplements. I also have leadership positions in a ton of clubs that keep me mega-busy.

Would colleges really see a difference in a student who is taking all IB classes, but isn’t receiving the diploma? Will this dramaticly effect admission at top school?

If it does, I do believe I can continue with full IB and survive it; it just might be too stressful with college applications and some new ec commitments this year. I think I can do it and still maintain my 4.0 but I don’t know if its worth risking my supplement quality, and frankly my mental health.

I was also thinking I could spend like 0 time on my extended essay, internal assessments, and IB exams, since they only effect my IB score and not my grades and the results come back next summer and for American IB students they don’t withdrawal admissions for IB scores because it isn’t really an admissions factor here. I could still say I am full IB then but not have a more stressfull workload. Thoughts?

Another thought, if I just don’t mention me not getting the IB diploma in my app, but they see a full-IB schedule, would they just assume I am a full-IB student? I know a lot of schools do stuff like the TOK essay and Internal assessments in class, so colleges may not even know I would have lightened my workload that much.

Just a reference these are my classes this year

IB Chemistry 2 (HL class) IB Calc 2 (HL class) IB Psychology 2 (HL class) IB Modern World History (HL class) IB Senior English (HL class) IB Japanese 5 (SL class) Gov/econ (required) Anatomy 2 (Not IB but is honors, took all the IB classes I needed)

As you can tell by the schedule it is already harder than many IB students. I am testing SL math and Chemistry tests but I am taking the HL classes (can only take 3 HL’s, but I like calculus and chemistry so I am taking the HL classes even though I have to test SL; my school doesn’t offer SL options for history and English)

Also another factor is that my school is forcing me to do my extended essay in history even though I do not like history nearly as much as psychology so I really do not want to write this essay.

I don’t want to lessen my chances though so I need advice. This got long, my apologies.

Thank you!

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What top schools are you planning on applying to?

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@CheddarcheeseMN I haven’t completely finalized my list since it is too top heavy but I know I am applying to stanford, Princeton, and yale through the Questbridge National College Match. Also looking at LAC like Amherst, Williams, Vassar, Bowdon, and pomona.

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I also really like the school Dickinson and I think I will get in, so it is not an end all be all if I dont get in a reach.

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It depends on whether, being a non-Diploma student, your guidance office will check “the most rigorous curriculum” box" on the guidance counselor’s recommendation form for the Common App. I’d be surprised if a guidance office would make a non-Diploma student as the same rigor as a Diploma student, but only your guidance department can tell you. Make an appointment and ask.

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And, at least in my kid’s IB program, the IAs counted as graded assignments for the course. If your school did that as well, not sure how a student could, for instance, take English HL and not complete the paper which is an IA in the fall of senior year.

More importantly, don’t start your admissions process with a lie-by-omission or actual misrepresentations about your academic program. You will almost certainly be asked about your IB program in interviews – my kid’s Dickinson alumni interviewer asked him about his EE topic and they discussed it at length.

Ask your guidance office if they will designate your non-Diploma schedule as the most rigorous curriculum available. If they won’t, then you will have to decide whether the trade-off is worth it. Few of the most selective schools will give serious consideration to students who are not in the “most rigorous curriculum available” category, unless there is a compelling reason such as health etc.

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@Midwestmomofboys I will try to email my counselor before school starts, because if I do drop it, it has to before then. (9/7)

And with your second comment, my school does not count IAs as graded assignments for the course. We have a ton of work to do within the class, and the IAs just become additional work for the full IB students outside of class. That’s why I thought that schools may not realize how much my workload will be lightened if I drop full IB, and assume I still have those IAs to do. Many of the IB classes at my school are both dual enrollment and IB classes. So for my History class for instance, we get credit at the local community college and typicaly the requirements for the dual enrollment take priority over the requirements for IB. That means the IAs are outside of class and sometimes the classes do not even cover all the material for the test causing a lot of outside of class studying. I really do not like the system at my school.

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Wouldn’t not having TOK in the fall semester pretty much indicate that a student is not full Diploma? At least at the programs I know, TOK is a spring 11th grade/fall 12th grade class. If it’s not on a senior’s fall schedule, then they aren’t a Diploma student.

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@Midwestmomofboys I already took TOK my Junior year, we take it Junior year at my school and write a practice TOK essay and then in the fall -once again an outside of class commitment- we write the real TOK essay. So I basically have to write 2 TOK essays. Also at my school plenty of non-full IB students take TOK just because they want to.

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@Midwestmomofboys I did do my TOK presentation already though.

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As a parent, I recommend being honest – embrace either choice and be honest about it with colleges. Bottom line, if guidance counselor only checks “most rigorous” for full Diploma students, then you need to decide whether you are willing to give up that designation or not. Don’t try to suggest you are full IB if you aren’t. Email your guidance counselor and ask straight up – remind them about your current schedule, that you are taking additional HLs etc., and ask what level of curriculum rigor that schedule, with and without non-classroom Diploma requirements such as CAS and EE – would be designated.

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@Midwestmomofboys Thank you for all of your input! I appreciate it

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@Midwestmomofboys Just wanted to update you because you were really helpful. I ended up staying with the diploma but dropped my anatomy 2 class (Didnt need it to graduate or for IB) that means I have a free period everyother day. I am using that period to work on IAs and college apps. My counsleor told me my rigor would still be viewed on the highest level because if my extra HLs and workload last year (The IB coordinator actually encouraged me to not take anatomy 2 last year when forcasting but I was stubborn)

So yup, thanks for the input, I found a compromise :slight_smile:

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Great, glad to hear it worked out! Having an open period will really help manage your workload, and glad your counselor helped you find a good solution!

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“Another thought, if I just don’t mention me not getting the IB diploma in my app, but they see a full-IB schedule, would they just assume I am a full-IB student? I know a lot of schools do stuff like the TOK essay and Internal assessments in class, so colleges may not even know I would have lightened my workload that much.”

As a parent of three IB diploma kids, I find this offensive. Those other things, which you dismissively rattled off, are part of what makes IB diploma so difficult, especially the testing. It’s fine that you stuck with the program; but you basically announced to everyone in this thread that you’re willing to be dishonest to get what you want, which is just gross.

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@MiddleburyDad2 You went into my history? After making fun of a teenager for being a drama queen because they are too poor to afford score reports? Are you an adult?

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@BeaconInferno , yes, I’m an adult. No. I peruse the IB threads all the time - actually most of the time. Three kids - three IB diplomas (one pending). Yes, your name did pop up.

And, it would appear that your IB curriculum didn’t do much for your reading comprehension and deductive reasoning skills, because your summary of our first interaction in entirely inaccurate and misleading. Then again, perhaps your post gives us another glimpse of your facility with misdirection and dishonesty. Either way, I did not make fun of you in any way, shape or fashion based on your stated inability to afford to send in your scores. That would have been a poor attempt at even sophomoric rhetoric.

With that, I’ll end our short acquaintance and hope that you get all that you deserve, and nothing more.

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@MiddleburyDad2 OK, goodbye.