<p>I have a current soph son who is planning his classes in a full IB diploma program. Don't want to get into a debate about IB, but will say I find the rigidity at our school frustrating.
There are limited offerings and zero AP classes. IB or regular (no honors or AP).</p>
<p>Son thinks he is interested in med school eventually and wants to be prepared for pre-med college track. Here is problem: at his school English and History must be HL and foreign language must be SL. He will also be taking math SL. Therefore he needs one more SL and one more HL. sciences offered are Bio and Chem, and he must do one of them HL. He has heard that the HL Chem test is a true bear with our last year's NMF barely passing - and this kid was the nearest thing to a math genius my S knows. Son would like to take Bio HL instead, but is afraid that without Chem he will be totally unprepared for chem in college.</p>
<p>I see choices as: (1) doing one year Bio and one year Chem - don't get the IB diploma, but feel better prepared for college. (2) Bio HL, skip Chem and try to get through it with help during college freshman year (3) Do Bio HL plus one year of IB Chem, which means giving up the favorite elective class - IB Business. And would this be too difficult of a load? I already think the IB load is too much without doubling up in science. (said as a person who took NO science in college, unless you count falling asleep in "physics for dummies" class.
Any suggestions? Any experience with HL Chem?</p>
<p>Has your son already had a standard high school biology course and a standard high school chemistry course?</p>
<p>If he has, I wouldn’t be worried about his qualifications for college biology and chemistry; he already has what he’s expected to have. I see no reason why he couldn’t take HL Biology and SL Business.</p>
<p>If he hasn’t had high school chemistry and biology, then he should probably take at least the SL versions of both sciences. I have heard that SL Chemistry is not particularly difficult. (My daughter’s IB program did not offer HL Chemistry, so I don’t know about that.) </p>
<p>Another option, if he has had no chemistry and feels unprepared for college chemistry, would be to take a chemistry course at a community college during the summer between his senior year in high school and freshman year in college.</p>
<p>As a parent of a kid who survived IB, I strongly recommend against taking 4 HLs, no matter what they are. IB is demanding enough without inflicting extra work on yourself.</p>
<p>Thanks Marian - The schedule for our pre-IB grades 9 & 10 have no choices in science:
semester H.Bio + semester H.Chem, semester H.Physics + semester H.some name that means earth science.
Then in gr. 10 & 11 the choices are IB Bio (SL or HL), IB Chem SL or HL
He is afraid if he takes one science HL (which he would like to do) it would have to be Bio as he hears “no one passes HL Chem test” and then he’d lack adequate prep for chem in college.
Rest of the schedule: all IB - Eng, Hist, French, math SL & either Psych or Business, plus electives of newspaper editor, & health/TOK.
I also don’t want this s in over his head - as you said! Also - he is not a 4.0 type guy, so the sheer quantity of work required scares me! But he is passionate about trying to prepare for med school - at least right now at age 16…
Would love to hear more comments!</p>
<p>Is your school’s 9th grade science classes the norm? If so I know a child who may be in a world of trouble. Her school had her take 1 semester of Chem H in 9th and then nothing until 10 grade when she takes Bio H for one semester. These are the only 2 sciences on her schedule in the pre program. She is a 4.0 type and has very high expectations for college.</p>
<p>Unless he plans to go to college outside the U.S., I would vote for
(1) doing one year Bio and one year Chem - don’t get the IB diploma, but feel better prepared for college</p>
<p>So he basically had a touch of everything?
My gut feeling would be to forget about the diploma but keep taking the IB clases.
Will they mark on his transcript “most challenging” if he is not a diploma candidate but is taking all IB classes? Is he looking at very competitive colleges where he will truly need that “most challenging” designation?</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. 12 hour work day kept me away from the computer until now.
S’s school has blocked semester schedule so kids take 8 classes, four 85 minute periods per day (each class meets every other day). In grade 9 & 10 in the “pre-IB” track they indeed get a touch of everything. one semester H. Physics, one H. Chem, one H. Bio and one H. Life science. Then for grades 11 and 12 the choices are Bio , Chem, and Physics but only Bio and Chem are available HL. Since the schedule is so rigid, it is only possible to take one year of each science if: A) you don’t do the diploma or B) you take Bio or Chem HL and the other SL and have no other elective outside of the diploma track.</p>
<p>He will likely have a 3.6 - 3.8 cum. uw gpa at the end of all of this, good EC’s and recs, and be looking for a 2nd tier LAC that offers a business major, but also has a good record of med. school preparation and acceptance. He is a kid who tests very well, and is smart, but doesn’t necessarily covet the “A” over the “B”. I would bet on a very good (but not “oh my!”) SAT score, but not NMF - like maybe between 2000 - 2100.</p>
<p>My questions succinctly are: Anyone know if it’s really true that the IB Chem test is a bear even for the whip-smart competitive types?
How much do colleges really care if you have the diploma versus all your classes being IB, but not in the exact right combo to earn the little paper?
Think: Redlands, Occidental, Colorado College, Ithaca… Merit money is going to be critical, so this is an important question for us.</p>
<p>About the “most difficult” - I really don’t know. School is huge public, low income, high drop-out rate, and less than 50% going onto any kind of post HS schooling (including CC) - the IB program is a draw for a segment of kids and they are pushed heavily toward the diploma, but I’m wanting to hear from others how important that designation is??</p>
<p>HL Chem is a hard test. I can tell you that my class (senior year HS, 2nd year of Chemistry) took a practice IB exam at one point in the semester. The exam was in partners, and open book. The highest score was 90%, or possibly in the high 80s. Now keep in mind, you don’t need anywhere near a 90% to pass an IB test. I’m pretty sure 50% will do it. It is a difficult test… especially Paper 3 (in my experience). I think most of my class passed it though (I didn’t).</p>
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<p>That will probably very from school to school… you should look at the colleges that you think he might be interested in, and see what their policy is, whether or not they give something extra for having the “IB Diploma” vs. a bunch of IB classes.</p>
<p>soccorguy - when you “look at the colleges” it is very difficult to tell - that’s why I’m asking for folks’ experience. Pretty much every adcom is going to say they like to see students have high grades in a challenging curriculum. But unless it’s obvious that $$ or credit is given for the diploma, experience, I think, is the only way to tell if it actually matters.</p>
<p>I know my older S applied to 7 selective schools two years ago, including one ivy, and the only school that asked him specifically about the diploma vs. an all IB schedule was Davidson in NC</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, information was enclosed with the transcripts of IB diploma candidates indicating that they held that status. In the few instances where students who were not diploma candidates were taking IB courses (an unusual situation because this was a diploma-oriented magnet program), the student’s records would not indicate that he or she was a diploma candidate, which would send a clear message to anyone familiar with this high school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, at many U.S. IB schools, being an IB diploma candidate puts impediments in the way of students whose main interest is science (or preparing for a science-focused career such as medicine) because they are often required to take two of their HLs in English and History (requirements that are imposed on them to reconcile the IB diploma requirements with state graduation requirements). Thus, they have limited room in their schedules for advanced science courses, unless they take 4 HLs or take APs on top of a full IB schedule, both of which are extremely demanding things to do. Probably, college admissions officers know this.</p>
<p>Marian - that is exactly the situation we have. It just feels like only the top colleges are aware of this sort of issue, and my S feels it’s more important to get the year of each science in prep for a college pre-med track than it is to get the diploma. </p>
<p>I don’t know if that’s correct or not</p>
<p>With a likely not stellar gpa in a very tough courseload, I’m wondering if the diploma will help.</p>
<p>You sound so well-versed in IB matters - do you know if SL I (without SL II) would be adequate preparation for first semester calculus in college?</p>
<p>Your S could do chemistry over the summer in community college, or through a
CTY camp. Chemistry is important to know for a pre-med.</p>
<p>My S is taking Chem HL right now. It is “hard”, in that the way they ask questions
makes it hard to figure out what they want; at least that is the report. This is from
a kid that had chemistry in 10th grade, self-studied for and got a 5 on AP Chemistry
in 11th grade, and is now doing IB Chemistry HL. I think there are only two kids
getting A’s in the class.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my S is glad he is taking it, really enjoyed the organic chem unit
(which is not in the AP curriculum), and feels doing all the labs is mostly worthwhile.</p>
<p>geomom - thanks for your post! Your S’s experience is exactly what my S is afraid of and probably translates into “too hard” for him, given the preparation he has had. He is eligible for CTY, but their costs are too much for us. Community college is a good option for the preparation piece, so now the question is what will work best in HS for the college admissions process?
One year each, Bio and Chem - no diploma
or
Two years Bio (Bio HL), IB diploma - no chem on the high school level (except one semester in gr. 9), but take it after graduation</p>
<p>I’m not as well versed in IB matters as I used to be. Some of the rules have changed in the two years since my daughter graduated.</p>
<p>And I’m afraid I can’t help you with this question. At my daughter’s school, most SL courses (including SL chemistry) were taught in a single year, while HL courses were taught over a two-year period (there were exceptions, but this was the usual rule).</p>
<p>I’m hoping you can help me advise my son on whether or not he should continue the IB Diploma program.</p>
<p>My question is specific to the Univ of Calif system… Here’s the dilemma - I can’t get a straight answer to the following:</p>
<p>Does the UC admissions process confer any advantage to an IB Diploma candidate, over someone who has taken the highest IB classes offered but has chosen not to take the Diploma path? (doesn’t do the extended essay and CAS).</p>
<p>This is our high school’s first year - my son is guinea pig - and here are the conflicting things we’re hearing:</p>
<p>1) Our high school IB coordinator says Diploma candidates are viewed very highly by UC.
2) But, UC Davis, UCSB and UCSD admissions staff have all told us they don’t give any admission advantage to Diploma candidates.
3) A rep from the Calif IB high school association (whatever…) implied that UC won’t say that they give preference bcs not politically correct, but in fact they do give preference. (huh?)
4) I hear that there’s a question on the UC app that asks “Are you an IB Diploma candidate?” If that’s true, I assume it must be important to them?</p>
<p>I’m not asking about AP vs IB, and I’m not asking about college credit. And there’s no real difference in the IB classes he will take. It’s all the extra stuff that’s overwhelming… So, I’m just about the chances of UC admission for a Diploma candidate vs a non-diploma IB student who’s taken exactly the same courses.</p>
<p>Hope my question is clear – and that some of you have figured out the UC system!
thanks so much</p>
<p>One thing to check, (I also thought D might want to do one year of IB Bio and one of IB Chem for the same reasons as you.) ----- your school might not be set up for seniors to take the first year of an IB course, because virtually all the other seniors are locked into IB year 2 courses. If you are lucky, S could slide into the first year of IB Chem when everyone else in his grade is working on IB 2 Bio. (at our school-- you can’t).</p>
<p>They teach all of the IB year one science at the same time, and all the year 2 at the same time. I think it is so they can collaborate on the G4 science progect.</p>