IB Diploma vs. IB Certificates

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

<p>I've just finished my Junior Year of High School. Since I go to an American school, i am doing both the HS Diploma and IB Diploma. But Lately my grades have gone down drastically. My GPA last Year was a 3.83, but this year it has gone down to a 2.81. I'm not able to focus on one subject at a time, causing all of them to drop, especially IB Chemistry SL. I'm terrible at Chemistry. I take HL Eng, Econ, Phy and SL Math, Chem, Spanish AB. I am planning to drop IB Chem and do IB Certificates as i can bring up my GPA to >3.5. I'm planning to apply to US, to these universities: NYU, BU, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, University of Texas - Austin, CMU, Penn State, Purdue, Berkeley. </p>

<p>So with these conditions should I continue with the IB Diploma or Take IB Certificates by dropping chemistry and taking a normal HS course, with IB in rest of the Subjects?</p>

<p>Note: International Student, Undecided Major, leaning towards engineering and finance. I have 6 science credits atm.</p>

2

<p>reduce your course load and try to get high GPA. </p>

<p>NYU, BU, GT, UT-Austin, CMU and Berkeley are pretty selective. you need around 3.7+ UW cumulative GPA for them. AIM for 1900+ on SAT.</p>

3

<p>If you don’t think you can get a higher GPA by staying with the IB diploma program then I also suggest you drop it. I myself have completed the diploma program and know that it is a lot of additional work such as extended essay and CAS. I would suggest dropping the program so you can focus more on your GPA. The three most important things colleges look at are GPA, SAT, and CLASS DIFFICULTY. Then they look at other stuff like IB or extra curriculars</p>