<p>OK, so I'm still trying to settle out my schedule for next year and I'm not really entirely sure about it. The classes that I signed up for are:</p>
<ul>
<li>IB Biology II (HL)</li>
<li>IB English II (HL)</li>
<li>IB History II (HL)</li>
<li>IB Math II (SL)</li>
<li>IB Spanish V (SL)</li>
<li>IB Theory of Knowledge</li>
<li>Physics</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm going to be a Senior next year and I'm a full IB Diploma Candidate. Anyways, the rumor that I've been hearing is that supposedly, if you don't take Physics in high school, Ivy-Leagues will not even consider you. Why in the world is that so? As you can see, with 6 IB classes, Physics is just going to make my schedule even more difficult and I don't want it to add to my stress next year. What I think would be a more interesting class for me to take is this class called Athletic Injuries. This is the description:</p>
<p>"This course, taught by the school's certified athletic trainer, place emphasis and recognition, prevention, and treatment of common sports through injuries. In addition, students learn anatomy and physiology of the human body, first aid, nutrition, and career opportunities..."</p>
<p>This sounds SO much more interesting to me, because I want to be a doctor. But I do want to apply to some Ivy's/top schools like Brown, Penn, Cornell, Duke, etc, but would not taking Physics hurt me? Or is this rumor not even true?</p>
<p>I got into Cornell. I didn’t have physics. I had 3 years of science though. But I was AP, not IB if that helps at all, which I hope it does.</p>
<p>Physics is much more important than Athletic Injuries for med school…</p>
<p>If you’re taking regular Physics, I say go for it and screw “Athletic Injuries.” It’s really not a difficult class at all, just a lot of memorization and application of formulas (at the more basic level). If it’s AP, take “Athletic Injuries.” :)</p>
<p>As for the veracity of the rumor, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I took honors physics my junior year and completed a semester of AP Physics C (also junior year) before chickening out.</p>
<p>Now onto the real advice:</p>
<p>Don’t take a class for “Ivy Leagues.” I dropped Spanish one year so I could take a completely useless electronic engineering course that taught me about NAND gates, J-K flip flops, shift registers, and a whole bunch of other nonsense, and as a result fell shy of the four-year language recommendation. I got in plenty of places just fine, and managed to meet my two best friends in the process while establishing a lot of valuable connections. If you know it will serve as a worthy challenge and is a valuable way of spending your time, then take the course (the engineering was harder than any AP I’ve ever taken). If you want a period just to relax and chill, take a study hall.</p>
<p>What school is this?
Because I’d go for what YOU want, not what an Ivy League wants.</p>