<p>Hey, Im in the 9th grade and i am in an IB school. Id like to get some tips on what i should start doing that might help me for the future and if there is a big difference between an applicant that comes from a normal school and an applicant that comes from an international ib school?</p>
<p>DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN. join all the clubs and every activity you can think of. explore. that way, you can cut down next year. </p>
<p>and IB school is equivalent to a kid who took 10+ APs in normal school (with all 5s of course)</p>
<p>Well, no. STEMftw’s advice to accumulate a laundry list of clubs/activities is near-sighted and frankly, bound for failure. His/Her pronouncement about IB is quite a bit overblown too. Frankly, just ignore post two altogether.</p>
<p>What can you do? Hopefully tap into an innate ability and desire to learn/search/explore. Hopefully this will lead you to superior academic achievement and drive. Take and knock out As in the most rigorous courses possible. Prep for ACT/SAT at the appropriate time. Look to explore extra-curriculars. If you find opportunity, push yourself and affect others. Be a leader, if you are one. Lead opinions, if yours are worthy of emulation. Be a scholar, if you actually are a learner. Be involved, if your heart is there. </p>
<p>If these things, plus a good dose of luck, occur, you’ll be setting yourself up fine for good college choices (which, BTW, extend beyond just 8 colleges) come your senior year.</p>
<p>Last thing: don’t lurk around here. Stay off this site for about another 2.5 years.</p>
<p>^ great post.</p>
<p>Ignore colleges for awhile. Do your best at courses that challenge you. Beyond classwork stay busy in activities that interest you. (PS - and since you are a frosh … read, read, and read some more … the most useful SAT prep course of all time).</p>
<p>T26E4 and 3togo have some good advice, but I would disagree with one thing they say-and that’s to ignore colleges for now. My D is at a 6-12 school and they start talking college in 6th grade. Research school beyond the ivies that might interest you. Look into possible majors that interest you. Calculate the real cost of going to college (I know D’s class was shocked to learn this). Look into scholarships-there are some open even to middle schoolers. Find what you love and join THOSE types of clubs, not because they will get you into college but because they will give you something to be passionate about and that WILL help you at application time. </p>
<p>I met a woman yesterday whose D is working on her Master’s. Her undergrad school was one the family visited when the D was in middle school. The D made it her mission to go there for college-and she did. She started her path there by going to the middle school/HS summer program. That’s another thing-look into summer programs at the schools you’re interested in. Although they do NOT guarantee you admission to the college, you would be surrounded by students who HAVE been accepted taking summer classes and it’s a good way to get a feel for what the place is like. </p>
<p>Lastly, it’s great that you’re focused. But don’t forget to have fun. You should not be miserable or so businesslike that you’re not enjoying your youth. You don’t get a do over.</p>
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<p>This is really sad.</p>
<p>OP, try to enjoy your teenage years and see if you can find out what interests you and what you’re good at. Don’t start this rat race yet. The finish line will never appear and you’ll be cheated out of your youth.</p>
<p>Why is it sad? It’s sad to have youth think “college” instead of job/marriage/idunno? The school D attends has students from all walks of life and some haven’t been raised to think of college as an option. Or they WANT to, but don’t know how to get there. How many posts do we see on these boards from kids whose parents never helped, or don’t want them to go at all? Or they WANT them to go, but don’t even know where to begin?</p>
<p>Instead of a rat race, it’s a long-term planning, goal-oriented program that got every senior in the admittedly small class accepted to one or more colleges-even the girl who was going to marry her BF and have kids (not any more) and even the one who was to just get a job because he didn’t know what he wanted to do. By helping him find his interests and a school that could offer the financial package he needed, the program gave one more kid a better shot. I don’t think it’s sad.</p>
<p>These are normal kids, having fun, but taking their school work seriously. Once a month or so they have a guest speaker (in middle school, it more often in high school)) who is successful in his or her field. The kids wear college gear every Friday. It’s not some cuthroat rat race-but it does convey a certain mindset. None of them will be on these boards as seniors complaining that their parents won’t let them go to college.</p>
<p>sseamom- that sounds like a great program and I wish more schools did that. The issue is balance. Keep college as a goal but don’t do everything just because it looks good on an application. Develop your own interests. Colleges want a diverse student body and I do not just mean students’ backgrounds. They want musicians, artists, scientists, actors, writers and so on…There are many schools out there for a student to fit into, but you won’t know where you fit if you don’t have any idea who you are or what you like. So yes, take the standard admission requirements, required tests and rigorous levels but you pick the language, electives and extra classes you wish to explore.</p>
<p>Have a goal college- Ivy’s if you wish, but also be realistic. Look for a range of schools you would like. By all means apply to any school, but don’t be so focused on schools with a less than 10% admission rate that you can’t imagine anything else.</p>
<p>Some people consult an admissions counselor to help be best prepared. I don’t know about that, but it exists, so it is something to consider.</p>
<p>And… also we should probably be discussing college AND marriage and jobs with our youth 
Marriage is a huge decision that is a whole lot harder to change than transferring schools… but that is a different topic…</p>
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Even sadder! Heaven help the poor kid at this school who is frog marched to college while secretly desiring to enter a trade, try a couple of courses at the local cc, or just bum around the country for a few years while finding his passion. My D’s private middle school scheduled a “college prep” night for parents of sixth graders–it was the first sign (of many) that we had made a poor choice in sending her there.</p>
<p>I disagree with the advice to start researching majors in 9th grade. Kids grow and develop a lot in high school, and I think it’s a mistake to get caught up with the idea of pursuing a particular field of study before you know who you are and where your interests and strengths truly lie–many don’t figure this out until the end of their sophomore year in college. Yes, there are a few kids out there who knew at age 14 that they wanted to be doctors or diplomats or astrophysicists and actually stuck to that path, but most aren’t that driven and shouldn’t try to force life choices prematurely. The advice offered in post 3 is very wise.</p>
<p>T26E4-um RUDE. telling someone to IGNORE my whole post? i dont mean a laundry list. ofcourse that means failure. duh. and u just practically said the samething i did. </p>
<p>wat i meant was to do many things freshman year since thats the easiest year. for example, lets say u joined like 5 clubs and doing 2 sports and 5 diff volunteer/extracirriculars outside of school.
sophomore year, u would quit and cut down on everything to like 1-2 clubs, 1-2 sports, and 1-2 other stuff. and stay like that for the rest of high school.</p>
<p>12 extracurriculars is a laundry list. There is no reason to join 5 clubs and play 2 sports and do 5 other things, in any year. No college will care if you do.</p>
<p>Well stem: your clarified advice about sampling clubs and whittling it down is fine. I just objected to the broad notion you originally proffered.</p>
<p>If you want to go to top tier schools, you will need good test scores, GPA and meaningful ECs. </p>
<p>You should plan out when you need to take SAT IIs, which would usually be after you have taken the course relevant to that subject test. Junior year will be your toughest and most critical year for grades, it is also the year to take SAT I or ACT. You will need to pace yourself and plan it out accordingly. </p>
<p>D2 took 2 SAT IIs sophomore year, took SAT I 2 times junior year (Jan and Jun). She didn’t take any AP exams because she was in the IB program. She was finished with all of her testing junior year. She was able to work on her application and essays the summer before her senior year. </p>
<p>Summer programs matter, free and competitive programs within your academic interest are most desirable - (state Governor school, TASP, or other privately funded programs). Paid college summer programs are not that meaningful, except it demonstrates interest and it shows you are familiar with certain colleges.</p>
<p>When it comes to ECs, do what you love, because then you will excel and stay with it. Both of our kids danced 15+ hours a week. While in high school D1 was involved with event planning, and D2 was the editor in chief and held various leadership position in the student government. Both of them were very deep (instead of wide) with their ECs.</p>
<p>There are many excellent applicants out there, so luck plays a very big part.</p>
<p>I’ll keep the advice short and simple. Try out new things, find something(s) you love, do them, try different subjects, see if you like them, make more friends, enjoy life. Yes, this is vague, but there is no reason for you to get tunnel visioned right now.</p>
<p>MommaJ-no one is frogmarched anywhere. In fact, one of last year’s seniors DID enter a community college to study automotive repair. He got into a 4-year school but had the full support of his parents and the HS to do what he loved. He also pondered joining the Army. I’m really surprised anyone would not support a school encouraging kids to have a plan for the future. </p>
<p>The great thing about D’s school is that kids are never forced into anything but given tools to explore options they may not have known are even there. The girl who wanted to get married at 18 was an excellent student, and very smart, but no one had ever talked to her about college. She not only got into college but got a full ride-and will be the first in her family to go to college.</p>
<p>And yet, it’s a school where kids who need extra help get it, but where a high achiever can fly. It’s where an LD kid gets assistance, and where the 7th grader doing high school math gets to walk over and get it. We had our back to school BBQ tonight and I’ve never seen so many kids HAPPY to be back in school.</p>
<p>Well most of this thread is pretty darned good advice. No one once mentioned “it’s all stats” and only two references to “passions.”</p>
<p>But, I won’t spare you my usual plug about doing for others. It’s not all about you.<br>
9th grade isn’t too early to look at college web sites, start observing your interests and strengths and build legit challenges and commitments into your life.<br>
It is WAY to early to either obsess or fall in love with some dream school.<br>
The marker is really where you stand by sometime in jr year- but, don’t be like the kids who only wake up then and post all their sad stories about messing up freshman and soph years.</p>
<p>My two favorite books for high school students thinking about this question:</p>
<p>Elizabeth Wissner-Gross “What Colleges Don’t Tell You”</p>
<p>Cal Newport “How to be a High School Superstar”.</p>