Should I continue with the IB Program?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm in my first year and my grades are great (3.8 unweighted GPA last semester, thanks to my only B in Spanish). But I don't have time for extra-curricular activities and I'm tired of running with the same pack of kids from class to class, day by day. I don't have many friends in my classes either. </p>

<p>I'm not planning on applying to any big schools besides my state's (UF, USF, FSU, etc.). I would like to apply to one Ivy, preferably Brown. Do they look down upon people who drop the IB one year, but pick up an equally heavy course-load (dual enrollment + AP schedule)?</p>

2

<p>Follow your heart.</p>

3

<p>My D did one year of IB and dropped it for her senior year .She took demanding courses , and now is a freshman at Harvard .It didn’t affect her acceptances , I think .</p>

4

<p>Don’t you get hella scholarships at Florida state schools for IB? I’m not from Florida, but I have IB friends there and I seem to remember hearing something like that.</p>

<p>[Scholarships</a> for IB Diploma Programme students](<a href=“http://www.ibo.org/diploma/recognition/scholarships/]Scholarships”>http://www.ibo.org/diploma/recognition/scholarships/)</p>

<p>^There we go. That list has tons of Florida schools. I’m not going to look up the specifics of how much money you’d get but you should. It’s definitely something to consider. Brown would not look down on you if you picked up an equally difficult courseload, but since Brown is such a crapshoot you should plan on the FL schools, in which case you should be careful before locking yourself out of scholarship opportunities.</p>

5

<p>I would do it, at least you have IB.</p>

6

<p>Isn’t IB great? Stay in it, it only gets better.
Think of all you’d be missing out on…</p>

<p>Extended Essay
CAS hours
WL2
Language Orals
TOK Essay
TOK Presentation
Another semester of TOK
Your 3 HL exams</p>

<p>Fun stuff, eh?</p>

7

<p>Let me correct that list of yours, daem0n.</p>

<p>Extended Essay
CAS hours
Language Paper 1
Language Paper 2
TOK Essay
TOK Presentation
Another YEAR of TOK
Your FOUR HL exams
Another YEAR of IB
Group 4 Project
Math SL IA
Biology IAs
English IOP
English IOC</p>

8

<p>Basically, February to May. That’s hell on earth.</p>

9

<p>Well, I did do my IOP, Group 4 (joke) and Math IA’s already, speaking as a first year IB student.</p>

<p>And 4 HL’s? Balls of steel.</p>

<p>edit: another year of tok!?</p>

10

<p>I recommend staying in IB. Just some background info, 28% of Non-IB seniors from my school got in to UF this year, and 81% of IB Seniors got in to UF. (I go to school in Florida also). It definitely helps, but with AP+Dual Enrollment I feel like you should be okay for the Florida schools. But for Brown, I’d stick with IB.</p>

11

<p><em>Facepalm</em></p>

<p>QUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT.</p>

<p>IB didn’t help me at all in getting any credits at my school. What a waste of time.</p>

12

<p>And. yeah. I’m doing 4 HLs/2SLs too.</p>

<p>So together, with 2 AP exams = 8 Tests, 17 sessions of testing (more than one test per HL/SL). What a pain in the ass.</p>

13

<p>lol 4 HLs. If you don’t score high on the HLs… it’s not helpful in America.</p>

14

<p>Same here, but my tests are somewhat spread out.</p>

<p>I only test out of my language this year. But that’s in addition to AP English Lit, AP Stats, and AP U.S. History. </p>

<p>Next year’s going to be a killer, with 5 IB exams + whatever AP’s my school throws at me/us (and all those supplementary entities of the IB hexagon).</p>

15

<p>Well CAS and EE are easy to get out of the way. I have 6, maybe 7 exams next year, 5 HL. in addition to over 5 AP exams.</p>

16

<p>I’m getting two IB tests out of the way this year so next year will be bearable. Some kids made the mistake of not taking any IB’s, and they are paying for it with 12-15 tests. Hell, even their makeup tests conflict.</p>

<p>EE is a pain like no other. CAS and the new CAS project will end up being bs’d. </p>

<p>ehhhhh back to my wl2 ‘practice’</p>