I am about to be a junior in high school and I decided to take some IB classes. I decided against doing the full program and 6 out of my 8 classes are IB classes. I decided against the full program because I want to continue on with my Technical Theatre class. This will be my third year with the class and will count as an honors course this year. I’m uncertain of my choice to do this lately and I need to decide before school starts. Will colleges be more impressed at me doing the full IB program or me pursuing my interests and passions? I’m okay with either one but I don’t know what colleges prefer…
I struggled with the exact same conflict this year- 4 APs or 3 aps and getting to take two very interesting honors classes. Ultimately, the way I solved it was convincing my school that I could do both- the 4 APs and the 2 honors. I don’t know if that is an option for you.
But my advice is, don’t do something just because you think colleges would prefer it. You never know what colleges are going to be looking for, and it’s impossible to try to fit a profile. While all colleges want a rigorous HS curriculum, they also want students who are passionate about things other than school (like you are with theatre). Choose the class that you most want to do, rather than the class(es) that you think colleges would like to see.
Is theater something you see yourself continuing with? Do you love it? Keep it up, and take what interests you. You are not going to be relegated to the reject pile because you chose 6 IB courses, which seems extremely rigorous, IMO. Colleges prefer good grades above all, and they prefer students that demonstrate a commitment to something. IB courses are on par with AP courses, and I actually think you might be overdoing it a bit, but you know what you can handle. Too many students think they need a laundry list of AP courses, but they don’t understand that being an academic drone is frowned upon.
You need to get a little perspective here; colleges want to see more than just good grades. They want to see interesting people who are passionate about things, and if theater is something you’re passionate about then I strongly recommend you go for it. Especially because you’re going to need a break at some point when you’re taking all those IBs.