<p>I am currently a sophomore in a Washington State high school that offers the IB Diploma Programme. I also have the option of taking on running start as a junior or senior.</p>
<p>I know the IB Diploma Programme is valued by virtually all colleges in the nation, but I am also very interested in pursuing an Associates Degree (probably engineering) through the Running Start program. </p>
<p>For those of you guys in either of these programs, could you please tell me your experiences (such as workload), colleges you have been accepted into and which program you would recommend over the other? </p>
<p>Also, do you out-of-state colleges (such as Duke, USC and U-Chicago) value Running Start as a "challenging" curriculum (or even value it)?</p>
<p>If you choose the Running Start community college courses carefully (i.e. those accepted as equivalent to courses at University of Washington), then you could potentially take more advanced college courses than the frosh level courses that IB HL credit might be considered equivalent to. In addition, you would probably have greater choice of college courses than IB subjects in your high school, although you may face more scheduling issues with the times of your college courses in relation to your remaining high school courses.</p>
<p>However, some private schools are stingy with unit credit or subject credit for college courses taken while in high school, so check each school’s policy carefully.</p>
<p>Also be aware that if you intend to go to medical or law school after your bachelor’s degree, college courses taken while in high school will affect your GPA for applying to those professional schools. So A or A+ grades in Running Start courses will pre-load your GPA in a good way, but grades lower than A- will pre-load your GPA in a bad way.</p>
<p>Which courses would you consider taking at the community college, or as HL courses in the IB program?</p>
<p>Thanks for responding.</p>
<p>Generally, I am interested in pursuing a major in college in an area of STEM.</p>
<p>If I were to do the IB Diploma Programme, I would take (for HLs) IB Math, IB Physics and IB English (as English is required in my school to be taken at the HL level).</p>
<p>If I were to do Running Start, I would need to take courses to satisfy my HS graduation requirements. I am not familiar with the specific course names, but I would take the following subjects in junior year: Math (whatever is next after Calculus), English 101, US History, Physical Education (intro to some sport), Physics, and Computer Science.</p>
<p>I would like to pursue an associates degree in an area of STEM, but I do not know the requirements for that (nor what to take senior year). If you (or someone) knows, could you please tell me them.</p>
<p>Math after calculus is multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. Other options for specific majors include discrete math (for computer science) and calculus-based statistics (for some other majors). Beyond that, you would need to attend a four year school if you wish to pursue math beyond that (typically mainly for math majors, though some physics, economics, statistics, and computer science majors take some such advanced math courses). IB math HL will not be as advanced as the math available to you in college (schools that allow credit for IB tend to give only credit for calculus for IB math HL).</p>
<p>A calculus-based physics sequence for physics and engineering majors in college will allow you to get more advanced in physics than IB physics HL.</p>
<p>Since it appears that you already have calculus in 10th grade, doing the IB program would stall your progress in math and physics compared to taking college courses while in high school (Running Start).</p>
<p>If you wish to pick up an associates degree on the way, you need to look up the requirements at the college.</p>