-I’ve seen on many of the colleges in each and every country including the uk, us, canada, and hk schools holding requirements for the ap and the ibdp holding drastically different requirements (including seeing that you need a 776 hl for ibdp and getting a 38-40 while only needing…three ap courses?) Why? Is it necessarily easier for ap to apply? I’m trying to choose between the two and I’m completely not sure how this works. Our school offers both with ap being super limited in freshmen to junior class amounts (6? WHAT?) so I’d be doing lots of self-studies adding on the the psychology csa class and micro macro exam I have right now as a sophomore. (I’d have calc ab stats, physics a as classes, and exam for all plus csp and chem) considering I’d go for data science. (I’d probably get only a 4 in physics and five for rest)
-Also, I’m simply a good coder and typist and if I go for the ibdp, I’m not confident picking aa hl (Maybe i’ll do it) and completely no hl for physics because I have ptsd towards it; would it necessarily affect my convincingness towards data science major schools?
(hl lang and lit, econ, cs sl physics, french ab, aa maths)
-Is it really a rational choice to be going into the school with their bad major and then transferring majors after? I feel like lots of people are doing it with no reason. (But yes schools like WashU literally do not get you in their cs major)
-Would it be possible if some advice was provided and insights too? tqqqq!
Data science is not a bad major -it is, in fact, a great major, very flexible, with lots of interesting courses that you can apply to other subjects or areas of interest.
Universities that restrict entry into CS or have different criteria for entrance into a CS major than other majors do not allow admitted freshmen (or make it almost impossible) to switch into CS after admission.
You can have a 2-pronged approach: apply to the CS BA at UMN or BS at universities that dont restrict entry like Indiana U, tOhio State, Penn State, Bates, Lafayette, Macalester, etc. And apply to Data Science at more restrictive universities like UMass Amherst, UMaryland, UWash Seattle, Cal Poly SLO…
UK universities like US applicants so they make things easier by considering an AP 5= an A level A, which in terms of content or mastery required for the score aren’t equivalent at all. However they’ll be stringent wrt to the actual APs: Calc BC, Physics 1 or 2 at a minimum (C for engineering), and one more science. Many universities will actually want 5 APs. They’ll also want a score for English, typically a GCSE C or AP 3.
Sounds like the IDP is not the right program for you so don’t worry about it.
IIRC you are an international student studying in China. Is that correct? You want to take courses that will be challenging and recognizable by U.S. colleges if you plan to apply here.
And you need to be able to afford to attend.
@MYOS1634 gave you a list of schools to consider…but they need to be affordable for your family.
Also, you might want to read the responses on your other thread as they relate to this same question.