<p>Hey guys, I'm enrolling in 11th grade IB classes next year. I have a good idea of which HLs I want to take, but I absolutely detest the two subjects in the other two categories. My school only offers History and Business & Management for Group 3, and my only option for Group 2 is Spanish. I can't stand grinding out history papers and I can't even speak my native Chinese well anymore. Do colleges specifically look for the IB diploma or do they look at the individual IB classes?</p>
<p>I enrolled for my classes already, but I can still change them up until July. This is what I signed up for:</p>
<p>English Lit HL
Math HL II (I am currently taking HL I in 10th grade.)
Art HL
Bio HL
Spanish SL
History of the Americas SL</p>
<p>If I could get rid of Spanish and History, it would be:</p>
<p>English Lit HL
Math HL II
Art HL
Bio HL
Physics SL (11th grade)/Chem HL II (12th grade)
Music HL</p>
<p>(Or some other combination of sciences.)</p>
<p>One issue with this is that my state requires 4 history credits, so I would have to take 2 additional history classes online. I think it would be worth it though, if colleges don't think the lack of the actual diploma makes an application worse. What do you guys think about this? </p>
<p>Also, I want to major in something animation or animal science related. I know art schools don't care much about academics, but I've heard that liberal arts schools do take academics very seriously even if you're majoring in an art field.</p>
<p>The way I see it, the two things that you lose by taking Certificate (EE and TOK) are actually VERY highly regarded in admissions. But taking certificate with that extremely difficult syllabus of 5 or 6 higher levels would be looked at very favorably in my opinion…
Interesting situation, without a doubt.</p>
<p>Yep, I’m hoping that the extra higher levels will counterbalance the lack of EE and CAS. x.x At my school it’s possible for someone who is not doing the IB diploma to take TOK after school, but I’m not sure that I want to do that.</p>
<p>I really don’t recommend that you take those. Of course, I don’t know how much you can handle, but your best bet is to take a normal IB schedule (and your GC ticks the “most demanding” course load), and if some subjects come easily, take extra HLs.</p>
<p>I’m a certificate student :'P
I’m taking Chem HL, Enviro SL, AP gov/micro, Calc SL, and Art HL. Seriously the best decision of my life. And I got into the best uni in my state :'3 Waiting for admission into U Penn still.</p>
<p>IB is overrated. Colleges really only look at your grades and how badass your classes are. If you want to go to an ivy league, stay in the Dip program.</p>
<p>But, damn, what else have you taken? You should talk to your school’s IB coordinator about this.
It looks good though. Taking both Art and Music… hmm. I don’t know if you’ll have time for both, what with all the 9 art pieces you have to puke up and all the music compositions…
My school allows Diploma kids to exempt out of Hist HL in place of an Arts class (Art, Music, Theatre or Film). Ask your IB person if taking Art HL exempts you from having to take Hist HL. In this case, you can take Bio and another science. This is what I did :'D However I do not recommend taking two HL sciences. This will kill you even if you’re just getting the Certificate. You could take two SL, one each year instead (Phys SL and enviro SL or whatever)</p>
<p>If you do go the Cert route, remember that this means you still need to do every single IA and all the IB crap the class requires of you. Your stuff /will/ have to go to IB land in order for you to get the IB credit. BTW, be warned, Cert schedules mess up the IB teams and IB junior/senior class test schedule. Teachers don’t really like that. Also, don’t take TOK. |: It’s not worth it. Just volunteer in your free time.</p>
<p>Good luck, young one. Junior’s going be a ***** no matter which route you take. At least you won’t have to take TOK and do the EE :'P</p>
<p>Maybe I’m underestimating IB sciences… xD It would be really amazing if I could opt out of History in order to take art, but I don’t think my school allows that. I’ll try talking to the IB coordinator and my counselor.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the reply so far ^^ Good luck on U Penn, Kannalala.</p>