<p>Hi,
I'm currently a sophomore student from Thailand. I want to attend either a US pre med (but it's really hard to get into US medical school since I'm an international student) or a UK medical school. Presently, I'm taking chemistry, accelerated math, and AP biology,etc (I'm having straight A except for AP Biology: I got B+). Next year, for 11th and 12th grade, I'm planning to take IB diploma (4 HL, 2 SL). My initial plan is to either take 4 HL:Biology, Psychology, Math, Chemistry/ 2 SL: English, Thai or 4 HL: Physics, math, chemistry, psychology/ 2 SL: Thai, English. However, I'm afraid that this might be too time consuming since I'm also in three varsity sport teams and am involved in many activities (debate, acting, environmental clubs, hospital volunteer, etc). Do you guys think I should take 4 HL and 2 SL or just stick with the ordinary 3 HL and 3 SL? If so, what subjects should I take? Should I take HL Biology despite already taking AP biology or should I substitute HL Biology with HL physics?
Thanks</p>
<p>There really is no point in taking IB Biology if you have taken AP Biology already. I had the same dilemma, and I asked my AP Biology teacher. He said that IB Biology is less rigorous than AP Biology (in terms of content), and he said it would be better to spend my time doing another course rather than repeating the same subject. He also said that I would get bored from studying the same material again. What he advised me to do is to do very well on the AP Biology exam because he said that a 5 on that exam is a “gem.” He also mentioned that most top-tier US colleges would offer credit to a 5 on the AP Biology exam, but not to a “7” on the IB Biology exam. It all depends on you, but I would suggest you to do HL Physics rather than studying the same stuff all over again. Hope this helps, and good luck.</p>
<p>Also, another thing: If you are planning to do the IB Diploma but you already have a load of EC’s, I would suggest you to do the regular 3 HL and 3 SL decision. 4 HL’s is really a lot, especially to a junior. I wouldn’t really advise you to push yourself all the way to the edge. It would be better if you decrease your work load a bit and get very high scores in all of them rather than doing a ton and getting mediocre grades. I guess this all burns down to your study habits, and since you are probably the only one that knows where you stand at, you may have to make your own decisions. Just providing a good piece of advice; you don’t have to listen to me if you have a lot of motivation in doing 4 HL’s. But, just don’t let your grades go downward. :)</p>
<p>Chemistry HL and Math HL aren’t that bad- I was in the first year of Chem SL and Math SL and everyone learned the same course content. The tweak about Chem is that you have the Group 4 project and 4 Internal Assessment projects, and believe me, you really do have to put a lot of time into those to get full scores. I don’t know much about Psychology, but from a friend of mine who is taking Psych SL right now, there are a lot of presentations and replicated experiments that you have to do. At my school, English HL is considered a “freebie” because all the juniors have to do is do homework, prepare for the IOP, and study for the exams. Of course, IB coursework would vary across schools, but I would really recommend you to do IB English HL. Plus, there really isn’t a huge difference in doing SL or HL English. Since you are a premed-oriented person, I would suggest you to take the following courses- English HL, Chemistry HL, and Physics HL/Math HL. If you think you can handle a lot more coursework AND still get very high grades, then go for Psych HL. Good luck with your course selection!</p>
<p>WOW! Thank you so much stanbrown3695 for your extensive explanation 
That’s exactly what my biology teacher told me- to NOT repeat IB BIO HL because it will be redundant. My english teacher is also propelling me to take HL english. However, I’m uncertain that the UK medical school will accept me, considering the fact that their main priority is HL biology. Can AP biology (predicted score:5) replace HL biology in the UK schools? Thank you so much for your recommendation. If AP biology can replace HL bio, I think I’ll be taking 3 HL (english, physics, chem), 3 SL (math, psyc, thai).</p>
<p>I don’t think you understand how easy it will be for you to get into school here in the US.
It’s actually quite easy. If you want to go to a GOOD school… meaning like Harvard or Yale…even down to UC Berkeley, UNC, UT, UM, etc… then it might be hard. </p>
<p>But I know a kid from Taiwan who came to the US to study because none of the Taiwanese Universities he applied to accepted him… go figure.</p>
<p>To ChaiMex, my parents only allow me to go abroad if I get into “good” universities
The reason I want to go abroad is because there’s only one international program in Thailand medical schools and unfortunately, that program isn’t really good.</p>