You guys are so great - I thought I would pick your collective brain on this.
This is what my daughter’s HS will most likely look like - any concerns you would have?
(For those who don’t know - IGCSE is a two year program - so the courses are two year courses that don’t change from 9th to 10th).
9th - IGCSE
Accelerated Math
English
Hindi
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Economics
Drama
10th - IGCSE
Accelerated Math
English
Hindi
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Economics
Drama
11th - IB Diploma
Math HL
English HL
One Science (P, B or C) HL
Hindi SL
Drama SL
Social Science (Have to choose between Econ, Business, History, Psych.)
12th - IB Diploma
Math HL
English HL
One Science (P, B or C) HL
Hindi SL
Drama SL
Social Science (Have to choose between Econ, Business, History, Psych.)
One weakness I anticipate is the History issue. My daughter will want to take Econ or Business. If she does…that would leave NO history in HS. In that case, what does everyone recommend? Online AP History classes?
Thanks for your inputs! You all are making this expat mom feel less lonely in trying to figure this out!
Forgot - In addition to the classes in IB they have their Theory of Knowledge, their CAS (like community service) hours and their extended essay requirements.
Check the admission requirements of the colleges she’s interested in to find how many credits of each subject they require. Our state schools require at least a couple years of history. If your daughter’s in a private school or your an international, the requirements may be different, but check them to be sure.
I’d research rhe admission requirements of a variety of schools so you get a general idea. Check a couple Ivies, some well known state schools, and a few LACs. If the majority require history, I’d make sure she took some.
History and social sciences are grouped together for admissions purposes. No college is going to ding an applicant based on a curriculum over which s/he has no control. There is no reason to spin your wheels looking for classes outside the school, unless, of course, your child wishes to satisfy an intellectual curiosity. But don’t do it for the sake of college admissions.
The requirements/recommendations for HS preparation listed on a colleges’ websites are meant to target the majority, but by no means all of their applicants. While many colleges will include 1 year of US history as part of their social science recommendations, if a student is attending Timbuktu High, then clearly s/he will be excused for not having US history.
Is Hindi your family’s language? Is the school your D attends in India?
I’d be more concerned about the foreign language than the history. While it may not–and probably won’t be–an issue in admissions, many colleges have foreign language requirements and at many Hindi won’t satisfy them. So, she’ll have to start at the beginning in French, Spanish, etc. Many intro foreign language courses are very time intensive.
My DD took HL Math, HL Chem and HL Physics, SL English, SL Business and German Ab Initio (we were living in Germany at the time.) She had taken US history in 9/10 grades. I should think you would want your DD to have some kind of history knowledge of either her or your place of birth.
From an earlier thread, OP and D are US citizens, so Hindi would be the FL. As the D is not at an age to have started searching for colleges, when she reaches that point, she can ask the prospective schools directly how they view Hindi for either admissions or for grad requirements. I still doubt that there is any issue with either, but asking first-hand will give more clarity.
I’m very surprised Hindi won’t count as a FL. What schools did you check? We are an English speaking family. In India kids take second and third language up to a certain point (starting from first grade.) She has had second language Hindi since first grade (and briefly had third language French). Language policies are very complicated here. Are you saying @jonri that languages like Mandarin, Arabic and other non-European languages don’t count at certain universities for the foreign language requirement?
Hmm, in the searched I have done I have just seen requirements like “3 years of a FL” or “4 years of a FL” preferably the same language all the years. Believe me my daughter would be THRILLED to drop Hindi and take an easier language…but I don’t see lists of “approved” FLs. Is there such a thing?
We attend a Canadian (English) school in India - so Hindi is definitely taught as a FL. It is also not the native language of anyone in our family (although out of necessity some of us speak it.)
It isn’t the specific language other than English; it is just that if someone grew up with multiple languages spoken at home, some colleges may see those heritage or home languages as a lesser academic achievement than learning another language “the hard way” (i.e. learning a language not spoken at home in school). Even then, some colleges just care about reaching a given level of proficiency in a language other than English, regardless of whether it is a heritage or home language.
If she started learning Hindi in elementary school, and has ample opportunities to practice in daily life, then she may be able to reach a more advanced level in high school than if she started a different language from the beginning.
Believe me…she has learned Hindi the hard way. It is a miserably difficult subject here. Perhaps a note with her application would be appropriate. I guess most people don’t know that Hindi, while a so-called “national” language is really only widely spoken in the North. In the South regional languages (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam) dominate. Hindi is very much a second, book learned, language for most of South India.
To my knowledge, no. I have seen a [very] few sites which will state that ASL would not count, but I have never seen a college exclude a common spoken language.
Maybe I missed something, but if she is full IB diploma, won’t she need at least an SL from the “History/Social Sciences” group? Are Econ etc SL courses? Again, my apologies if I missed the details here.