Question from an upcoming junior

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>My questions for you guys are fairly simple. If I go to a school with a IB program, but I don't get the IB diploma, is it still realistic for me to get into Columbia?</p>

<p>I have taken 3 IB classes my freshman and sophomore year, and as a junior I will be in 6 IB classes. I have a 4.0 right now, and I will most likely keep it.</p>

<p>The next problem that I have is my math coursework. I took Alg 1pt 1 my freshman year, and algebra 1 pt 2 my sophomore year. I realize now that it was a big mistake, but I am taking geo over the summer, and I will be in Algebra 2 Trig next year if that counts for anything. Will this be the end-all-be-all for me, even if I want to major in something like pol science, or philosophy?</p>

<p>I will hopefully have some good ecs by the time I apply, including starting my own nonprofit, working in a voter registration office for the 2008 election, snagging a couple leadership positions, and founding my schools chess club, and getting into the va govenors school.</p>

<p>Top 1% of my class, 250+</p>

<p>I'm African-American if that makes any difference.</p>

<p>However, considering those problems, is it still realistic for me to get into columbia, or would it be a waste of time considering the lack of the IB diploma, and bad math choices even though it may be offset with the summer work?</p>

<p>Also, I apologize in advance for the grammer and spacing mistakes, I'm kinda in a rush.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Can anyone help?</p>

3

<p>I think your high academic standing coupled with your urm status would make it likely to gain admission. As long as the rest of your application’s solid, I don’t see why that diploma should have any effect.</p>

<p>But the question is, are you challenging yourself by taking the hardest courses that your school offers? if your straight A’s are based solely on taking easy classes, then it doesn’t say much about how you can handle college-level work.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much Epaminondas</p>

<p>See im in a bit of a unique situation. The only classes that I didnt do IB in were spainish, math(im terrible at math), and phis ed. which I find useless. I did take ib english, science, history, and I just found out I have a A for the year for AP Comp. Govt. I explained that I’m taking geo over the summer, which will most likely be an A. Next year im going to be in IB Spainish III, IB Anthropology, IB History , IB English, IB Algebra II/ Trigonometry(a HUGE step for me), and IB Chemistry. So to the latter of my hs years, its going to be nearly all IB for me, which would be the hardest my school has to offer.</p>

<p>A friend recently told me that colleges take into account progress, so if a go IB math and spainish my senior and junior year, will that improve my chances? Will I be thrown to the bottom of the barrel because of the easy math in my freshman/sophomore year?</p>

<p>The biggest thing that I think will give me the best chance to get into any college is starting my own nonprofit. It’s totally unheard of for most hs students apparently.</p>

<p>Can anyone else give me more insight, im struggling here lol.</p>

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<p>Not being a Diploma candidate should not stop you from applying. American colleges do not care about receiving the IB Diploma as much as the rigor of the course selection you choose. Are you taking Higher Levels or Standard Levels? Standard Level’s are generally regarded less highly than HL’s. When I applied to SEAS, I had 6 HL and only 2 SL courses. </p>

<p>The math will probably hurt somewhat. However, seeing as you are applying to CC, if you stress your strongest points in your application and essays, it may not be a total killer.</p>

<p>However, I’m wondering what IB Algebra II/Trig and IB Spanish III are. Are these special courses designed for your school that are limited to only IB students? The only IB math courses are Math Studies and Math SL/HL and IB Spanish SL/HL. These courses will likely not count as “IB” courses. Did you mean you were taking IB Math Studies or IB Spanish SL? </p>

<p>Regardless, your friend is right that progress is a big factor. Show that you’re taking harder courses year after year (like your math) and that you are challenging yourself and improving as you progress through school. Not to shoot you down or anything, but don’t rely too much on starting your own nonprofit. From a pragmatic stance, this will require a enormous amount of dedication that a high school junior may or may not have. But if you pull it off, write a killer essay about it and the adcom’ll forget about those math courses.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the response, but I’m going to need a bit of clarification on certain acronyms, like CC(im guessing columbia college) and SEAS… as you can see im kinda new here.</p>

<p>At my school we have something called the MYP program or “middle years program” which are basically “pre IB classes”. So we have IBMYP world history, IBMYP Algebra 1, ecetera ecetera. In junior and senior years we have the actual IB classes, such as IB eng., IB Bio 1, IB History and the like. We have a IB Math 1 and 2, and IB Spainish V and IB Spainsih IV. Im not sure if you already knew this, so I dont mean to insult your inteligence level if it came off that way. </p>

<p>By the time I graduate I should have 10 or 11 actual “IB” classes, with everything HL except for Math. It that considered a rigorous courseload? And will colleges disregard my application because I havent taken every possible IB class, and im technically a year behind in Math by some measures? Do colleges look more at the sophomore and freshman years, or at the junior/senior years when it comes to rigor?</p>

<p>I understand what you mean by the non-profit, I actually have most of the groundwork done for it, including getting it recognized as an official non-profit. It is going to be very hard to organize everything for it, and get all the gears turning, but as you said it will make for a killer essay topic.</p>

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<p>Wow, your school is almost identical to mine, also in VA; we’ve got the MYP program as well (it sucked). Where do you hail from?</p>

<p>I would imagine that MYP classes are regarded more highly than regular classes. IB classes are regarded like AP’s. There is no possible way to take every IB class offered by your school, and colleges know this, so I doubt they’ll penalize you for that. I don’t think you’ll be “behind” a year in Math; a lot of my senior friends took Math SL 2 their senior year, which I’m guessing will be in the same boat as you? Or are you going the Studies route? </p>

<p>If the majority of your classes are HL, then you have taken “rigorous” classes and have no need to worry about that. They definitely take a harder look at Junior/Senior years, since people generally take more AP/IB classes during those years and reflect better your performance in actual college-level courses. As previously stated, they also really like to see a positive trend in grades.</p>

<p>That’s great news on the nonprofit; best of luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks guys I appriciate it! </p>

<p>I think I will end up taking IB Math I my senior year, and ib algebra 2 this year. Is that a bad thing?</p>