I’m in the tenth grade and in Singhania School. It is one of India’s most prominent and established institutions and was even ranked 1st recently. I want to pursue astrophysics in the future and will obviously, be opting for Science in the 11th and 12th grade. Here’s my problem and I’m frankly a bit surprised that nobody has asked this before, should I go in for an Integrated course and prepare for IIT? Integrated courses are all the rage now and at least 98% of my friends have already enrolled in institutes like FITJEE or PACE, etc. Or instead of that, should I opt for an ISC and IB program and only prepare for the SAT? Or should I take up a classroom IIT program and go to school as well? Singhania offers ISC currently and there have been a lot of talks about it opening up an IB program the next year as well. Furthermore, is it possible to prepare for the SAT along with the IIT? Because, as far as I know, the Science and Math level of the SAT is way below that of the IIT program. Will having very few to none extra-curricular activities really impact my admission in international colleges even if I have say, a 2380 on my SAT? I’m very confident about my English and I can attend extra classes for that.
I’ll try to answer your questions.
"should I go in for an Integrated course and prepare for IIT? " This depends on you. If you want to go to an IIT/other good colleges in India that admit through JEE, go for an integrated course. Otherwise, don’t. One drawback of these integrated programs is that most of them are affiliated to state board schools. So, if at all you plan to apply to Cambridge/Oxford/or some other top school in the UK, don’t go to a state board school because most schools don’t let state board students apply.
“should I opt for an ISC and IB program and only prepare for the SAT?” I would suggest that you opt for IB simply because its academic rigor is well known. But again, it depends on you. It’s not like the ISC board would put you at a disadvantage or something, but I just feel that the academic rigor of IB is more known, and idk why. “And only prepare for the SAT” if you’re going to spend all your time focusing on SAT prep and not doing some ECs, forget getting into top schools in thr US.
“Or should I take up a classroom IIT program and go to school as well?” I wouldn’t suggest this at all. Go to an integrated program if you want to prepare for the JEE.
“Furthermore, is it possible to prepare for the SAT along with the IIT? Because, as far as I know, the Science and Math level of the SAT is way below that of the IIT program” It’s possible. I have friends who have managed both things, but usually they were the olympiad guys who are just crazy :-p I would suggest that you stick to one because it will give you a lot of time to do other things too. Say, you just focus on getting into a top school. So, if you don’t go to jee prep classes, in this case, you will have a lot of time to focus on ECs. And similar is the case with JEE prep, where only focusing on that would give you lots of time to study.
“Will having very few to none extra-curricular activities really impact my admission in international colleges even if I have say, a 2380 on my SAT?” Yes, it will have a huge impact. Even if you score 2400, and if you don’t have ECs, forget getting into top schools. Many top applicants usually have great ECs along with great scores.