I go to a rigorous Catholic high school and my guidance counselors are pushing be to go full IB. My main interest in this process would be in allowing myself the opportunity to get into top universities as my counselors have warned. Would you suggest that I go full IB to have a good chance into getting into these universities:
University of Notre Dame
Case Western Reserve University
Dartmouth College
Rose-Hulman
RPI
WPI
Stevens Institute of Technology
Babson College
Hillsdale College
Lehigh University
NYU
Georgia Tech
Colorado School of Mines
Villanova University
P.S. I’m still a sophomore and am in a position to “make the grades” of the university. I also understand that these universities are widely different and some like Dartmouth will almost certainly require this course load. I know that i will do at least partial IB I’m just wondering if it would be a good idea to consider the IB diploma for these schools.
Hello! I’m currently a junior in IB and it’s a very rigourous program. You will have to do several papers and volunteering. At my school it takes up a lot of the junior’s time, but if you’re up to the challenge you should do IB. Also, doing partial IB would be great if you don’t want to make a big commitment and you want more time for other things in your life.
As for the schools you have listed I’m not sure if they give a lot of credit for IB. I do know that Wichita State and University of Tulsa give out a lot of credit for IB. You don’t need to do IB to go to a good school. If you can do AP or honors classes you’ll still have a chance at top universities.
I hope this helps!
Thank you @mello_kid24 that actually reminded me of a major point I forgot to make. My school doesn’t offer any AP, and foolishly decided to place all their eggs in the IB basket. This pigeon-holes students into taking courses too hard for the individual with little personal payoff just so they can prove to top colleges that they took the most rigorous classes. Subsequently, this forces the guidance department to promote the hell out the IB diploma and use fear-mongering to pressure students into doing it with statements like "you’ll need to go full IB to have a chance at getting into that school.
IBD does not mean you get any extra credit in your university application, it means you have taken the most rigorous option your school offered, as will have your competition. IB is only worth doing as the diploma IMO, unless you are doing more than 4 HLs.
The narrative about how IB gets you into competitive schools over non IB (ie >8APS/known rigour non AP) is mythical. The IBD does however, give you the preparation for rigour at university. As you don't have APs, your only real option is IBD. Frankly schools that do commit to IB only had better have good results. You can ask your GC about what that looks like in their stats. Speak to some seniors, (juniors will be of no help) successful and drop outs, to get an idea of how well the program is run
. Does your school require religious education in jr and sr year? What does that look like in the IBD schedule? The whole IB philosophy in catholic schools seems like an oxymoron.
I’m sorry! Does your school offer honors classes? Since some of the schools on your posts are selective I would suggest doing the program in full, so that colleges know you are taking the most rigorous classes allowed at your school. But, if you don’t want to do the program maybe you could self-study for some AP classes or if your school offers it enroll in duel-enrollment classes.
Agreed. A corollary is that the IBD will not guarantee admissions to any school. Now it is possible that the high school’s policy is that only full IBD candidates will receive the “most rigorous” course checkmark on the Secondary School Report, but that’s a question for your GC.
Also, if the IBD will potentially result in substantially lower grades, then any “advantage” from pursuing IBD would likely be superseded by a lower GPA.
Is there any Catholic HS that does not?
@Sybylla there is a religious requirement I believe it’s called Theory of Knowledge (TOK) for IB. Non-IB has a total of 6 credits for the academic honors. @mello_kid24 is that possible to take APs online separate from my school.
For WPI’s IB policy read https://www.wpi.edu/offices/registrar/policies-procedures/ib-credit
For Case Western’s IB policy read http://case.edu/ugstudies/fyr-guide/international-baccalaureate/
It was easy to find direct answers at these two websites. Spend time choosing words and working through the search features at the websites of your listed schools.
:bz
Credits after matriculation is not the real question here. OP wants to know if IB gets him into top schools. Fact is, it does not.
I don’t know if there are online classes for AP, but that depends on your school. You would most likely have to have a conversation with your counselor to decide if self-studying for AP exams is what you want to do.