<p>Yesterday I submitted my courses for junior year, however i'm starting to doubt if i did a good choice:</p>
<p>IB Math HL
AP Calc AB
IB Spanish HL
IB History HL
IB Physics SL
IB English SL
IB Econ SL
IB TOK</p>
<p>my question is the following: do i need 4 HL classes to get into an ivy league school? The reason I say this is that i was in between doing English HL or SL, but chose to do SL because i REALLY dislike the subject (it's not my first language) and the teacher is a really harsh grader.</p>
<p>But, all of my friends who are aiming at top ivies + mit or stanford are doing 4 IB HL's...</p>
<p>If you are taking AP exams, IB levels are not relevant since you wont get a diploma until after you complete 12th.</p>
<p>The difference between HL and SL is whether an Ivy gives you credit for a class since most Ivies only consider HL for credit. Whether you take one extra HL is not going to make or break your application.</p>
<p>Ivies only give credit for HL, so if you are looking to get credit, you need to take HL courses. Ivies are looking to see that you did really well and took these classes. Although you will not get your score until after you take all your IB tests, the counselor can send a project score to the colleges. It not just about taking IB. It is about taking IB and getting killer GPAs. Your SAT is going to be more a deal breaker than if you take an extra HL course imo. The score you need ranges from 5 to 7. Havard requires three 7s in hl courses to get advance standing. Brown will take 5 to 7 for credit. </p>
<p>Don’t know anything about you IB programme at your school. My dd hs did not have a very good one because only 33% of the students got the diploma. The rest got certificates because they failed to get enough points or bombed the EE.</p>
<p>DD got her diploma and got college credit for her HL at her college.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies everyone, this makes me feel slightly better :)</p>
<p>the IB program at my school is very good… although my grade is probably the smartest in the school’s history since 70% of the kids are going Full IB and 20% of the kids in my grade are straight-A students.</p>
<p>This brings up another question: Let’s say hypothetically my friend (Bob) took 4 HLs and I took 3. His weighted GPA (in my school it’s out of 100) is 97, while mine is 98. Are we equal candidates or does he have a slighter advantage? SAT, SAT II, EC’s aside of course and not considering the IB grades since test results only come after senior year.</p>
<p>Your hypothetical just does not work in college admission process at the ivies.</p>
<p>NO ONE CARES whether someone took one extra class or has one extra percentage point. This perception that they care is how people start whining that someone below them got into a college they deserved every year. </p>
<p>Your application is a sum of your transcript, your class rank, your scores, your essays, your ECs, LORs, accomplishments, and which side of the bed your adcom woke up from when he/she read your application and what appealed to them on that day.</p>
<p>Your friend’s application might find an acceptance at Brown and yours might find an acceptance at Cornell but that does not make one superior to the other and only that it appealed to the specific school in that year. Assuming that one was liked for a quarter percentage point on the GPA versus an extra HL class is totally baseless. In most cases it can come down to an amusing anecdote in an essay or LOR that can make or break your application once the GPA, scores, etc are in the ballpark.</p>