Im not American and I came to US at the begininning of my freshman year when I barely could speak fluent english. In freshman year I’ve ended up with a 3.3 gpa for my difficulties with english, and the gpa for my first sophomore semester was a 3.4/3.5 But I’ve knew that this gpa is not the best for colleges and I started to worry a lot in this last period of time about what I can do to get in a better situation.
If I will finish this second semester of my sophomore with a gpa of a 95 (still hard because you don’t get so much better from one moment to another) by working hard, my overall high school gpa for now will be of a 90 which is… meeh ok.
Also in my junior year I will be doing IB program, and I’m afraid that that’s going to lower down my gpa since it is going to be dough. What do you guys think about my chances? Suggestions on how I should be metally and how I sould work hard?
Can you take honors class in place of an IB class? I know they require certain classes for an IB diploma but it would be understandable if you took honors English/literature as an honors class.
Well what classes does your English proficiency hinder you the most?
What do your ESOL instructors say about your progress in Academic English? Do they believe that you are ready for an IB curriculum? If they do, then go for it. If not, take a look at your other options. Let the colleges know that you arrived here for 9th grade, and they will be able to evaluate your record based on your years of studying in schools where English is the medium of instruction. You will probably be required to take the TOEFL exam, so plan now to fit that in with the other exams you are likely to be taking. You may want to spend some time on specific TOEFL prep.
If you haven’t already spoken with your parents about paying for college, do that now. If they want you to return to your home country for your education, then you probably should complete the IB even if it is hard, because the IB is recognized for university-level admission in many countries even if they don’t recognize a US high school diploma.
If you are not staying in the USA forever and maybe not even going to college in the USA then really the IB is a decent plan. You don’t have to HL in English LA, you can do SL, , you can HL in your native language and whatever subjects really float your boat. I was at an IB awards night recently when a kid got her bilingual IBD which for someone who might live bilingually seems pretty darn snazzy. I would imagine your parents have pointed you at the IB for good reason, rather than the usual assumption that might come from US students about it being only for really smart kids. Is it hard to tolerate the US obsession with GPA in the IB format? Sure. Establish from your parents where college will be.