My IB plans for Junior/Senior year.

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi, currently I am a sophomore in high school. I've decided to join my schools IB Program and go for the full diploma. But I'm unsure whether or not I can get the Diploma because of the foreign language. I also have some problems with the IB science my school offers. I attend John F. Kennedy High School, we are new to the IB world, so at the moment we only have IB Biology. I've talked to the coordinator and my counsoler and they're both uncertain whether or not we'll get IB Physics/IB Chemistry. </p>

<p>Here's my last year schedule and this years':</p>

<p>Freshman year:
English 9
United States History
Physical Education
Spanish 1
Algebra 1
Matter and Energy
Foundation of Technology</p>

<p>Sophomore year (right now):
Pre-IB English 10
AP United States Politics and Government
Honors Health
Spanish 2
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
Introduction to Engineering Design</p>

<p>Junior year:
IB English
IB History of the Americas
IB Film Studies
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB Mathematics SL
Spanish 3 (IB Spanish 4 by second semester If I can prove I'm good)
IB Biology (Really don't want it...)</p>

<p>Senior year:
The corresponding year 2 classes of the IB program. Not sure what happens after one year of ToK, and either IB Spanish 4, 5, or with ANY luck 6...</p>

<p>As you can see, I want to show improvement from my crappy grades in Middle School and on level courses in Freshman year. I have plans to take Algebra 2 over the summer (I've already started with the materials) so that I'll be nearly on track. Current in Spanish 2 I have near perfect As on each test/quiz. I've heard from an IB upper classmate that he was in French 3 his Junior year, showed well skills in the language, and his teacher sent him to IB French 4 in the second semester. I feel my Spanish is good for a level 2 student, and my teacher agrees. On another note, I REALLY hate Biology, not because its hard, cause it really isn't. I have a near perfect A in Honors Biology right now, and every quarter. But I have goals of going to college and majoring in fields like Astrophysics, Cosmology, Physics, Chemical engineering, and Aerospace engineering. So I'd love to know if I could NOT take IB Biology, and instead take AP Physics and AP Chemistry, while still getting my IB Diploma. From what I'm trying to do in my 2.5 remaining years of high school, do Universities favor this kind of self-improvement and academic growth, or do they expect people to have had a good start right off the bat?</p>

<p>And if you all could give me some information about any chance I could have at getting into Universities like these that'd be great (I have an overall GPA of 3+ ):
-University of Arizona
-University of Alabama
-University of Berkley California
-University of Maryland
and my personal favorite
-University of Cambridge, England</p>

<p>If anyone knows some other Universities with Astrophysics, Physics, Cosmology, and Aerospace Engineering Undergrad/Grad programs please inform me!</p>

<p>Thank for taking the time to read this.</p>

2

<p>Which classes are SL and which HL?</p>

<p>You better revise Algebra II over the summer, seriously. You can’t go into SL with just geometry.</p>

<p>You have to take an IB science to get the diploma. IB Bio is the easiest science anyway, just take it. Unless you really want to do science in the future…in which case you should be doing 2 sciences. Get rid of film, seriously. It’s the worst IB subject ever.</p>

<p>“A GPA of 3+” will not get you into Cambridge. They don’t look at GPA at all. They need your IB predicted grades. Average offers from Cambridge range from 39 to 43 depending on the course. I can PM you some info on UK universities if you want, since I go to a British school and we have quite a few going off to Cambridge/Oxford.</p>

<p>Do some Spanish over the summer. IB Spanish (if you take it SL) is very very easy. You should be able to make it. HL is quite a big step up though.</p>

<p>In your case, you might want to consider not doing the diploma and going for AP. I think you really need Physics if you wanna do those things.</p>

3

<p>A PM on UK universities would be great, any help is much appreciated. I’m still trying to understand the difference between SL/HL, I haven’t had much time to talk with the IB coordinator, but I plan on discussing my thoughts more in-depth with him soon.</p>

4

<p>It looks good to me! Just a warning if you plan on taking Biology I would take HL, if you only take SL there is barely any if at all material on the human body, which more people are stronger at. But if you like plants Biology SL would be for you.</p>

5

<p>So is going full IB looked at well by colleges nowadays?</p>

6

<p>Based on experiences at the public high school my s is graduating from, a full IB diploma is “looked on well” but not necessarily any better than taking several IB classes that interest you and skipping the full diploma. This seems to be especially true for highly selective colleges. At his high school, a full IB diploma can lock you into a rigid schedule with few options to pursue classes that truly interest you, and it adds the extra stress of an extended essay and CAS requirements. He, for one, does not think it was worth it.</p>

7

<p>So in all honesty, going full IB isn’t much different from taking most IB classes and getting the certificate.</p>

8

<p>da dump ba bump.</p>