Hi! I am currently a sophomore (grade 10) and I am trying to decide if I should do the IB program or not. I am in all honors classes except history this year so I am on the track to take the classes and they are pushing it a lot at my school. However I know the courses are very difficult and I currently only get A’s and B’s and I just got my first C+ in Pre-Calc. I’m just worried that the classes will be too stressful and not worth it in the long run. If I don’t IB I would just take AP classes and tests and get credits that way, but I’ve been told that IB is considered the most rigorous courses available at our school and colleges will decide if they will consider you or not based on if you took the hardest classes at your school. I’ve been going back and forth on this for a while now and I still can’t decide so any advice or past experiences would be greatly appreciated.
BTW- this would be my schedule for the next 2 years if I did IB
IB Schedule Option 2
HL- SL-
Math Spanish
English Biology
Psychology Orchestra
1- Spanish 3 IB
2- Physics AP
3- Gym/TOK
4-
5- Orchestra
6- Calculus BC
7- English 3 IB
8- Psychology IB
1- 21st century
2- Biology IB
3- Gym/TOK
4- World History
5- Orchestra IB
6- Further Math IB
7- English 4 IB
8- Psychology IB
I would think twice about taking Math at a Higher Level if you’re getting a C in Pre-Calc at the moment. Math HL is one of the hardest IB classes offered, and a lot of the time former A students in math become B or C students. I’m worried about whether or not you would be able to keep up with the pace of the course, as you generally learn a chapter in about a week (3/4 lessons) and tests require you to synthesize ideas, not use ideas you have already learned.
Are you strong in English and Psychology? Generally, you take the classes you are strongest in at an HL level.
They don’t offer SL for Calculus into Further Math at my school so I don’t think I have any other options. I mean I am already in an IB HL Pre-Calc class technically; it just doesn’t count as that since I’m a sophomore. I am really good at English and I’ve never taken Psychology before but I’m really interested in it. My other option to HL would be biology, but people at my school say it’s really difficult.
Which colleges or types of colleges are you targeting? state schools? lacs? etc?
Am I correct in assuming that you would rather not do IB and are only considering it for the impact on college admissions?
Yeah I am only considering it for college apps and just because all of my friends are doing it. I think taking AP classes is actually more beneficial because its cheaper and more colleges accept AP credits. I’m not too sure about where I want to go to college yet. I wanna be a physical therapist (or possibly an occupational therapist) so I think my best option would be a school that has a 5 year bs/dpt combined program, which a lot of them are private and even if the school isnt that difficult to get into to the programs are evidently harder, like BU or Ithaca, so that worries me. But I also really like the whole atmosphere of state schools like UCONN and Penn State, so I’m not set on any one type.
IB is really stressful… But worth the stress. I’m currently in the IB diploma program, and I’m ranked #2 in a class of 276 with a 5.2 GPA. I was also able to receive a full tuition scholarship to University of Michigan.
I currently take: TOK, Middle Eastern History HL, Psychology SL, Biology SL, Mathematics SL, Spanish HL, and English HL.
You will be fine not doing IB. Most US schools don’t even have it, so colleges will consider the AP tract rigorous when compared to other students. Concentrate on making good grades in the courses you do take and on prepping for standardized tests.
My daughter is an IB diploma student, graduated in the top 5% of her class (most likely #2 but school doesn’t rank), had a very high GPA, almost 2100 SAT, and I don’t think the colleges she applied to really considered just how much effort the IB program requires, given the rate of rejections she got from high match schools. I think she would have done just as well or possibly better had she done an AP program but her high school was all IB. One of the problems is that colleges only receive a projected IB score because the exams don’t take place until the end of the senior year and are not received until summer. HOWEVER, the IB program prepared her very well for college. While many kids struggle with time management and critical thinking, these are her strengths.
The IB DP is leaps and bounds more rigorous than the AP curriculum. Do NOT do IB HL Math if you are not an A student in math already. You will destroy your GPA. In my experience having seen my daughter and her friends at both IB and AP schools, 1 IB HL course workload is the equivalent of 2 to 2.5 APs in a year and 1 IB SL is the equivalent of 1 to 1.5 APs in a year.
The IB prepares you much better for college but is very under-appreciated by most US colleges except the Florida public colleges (UF/FSU etc), Brown, the UC system, Reed, the Oregon public colleges (UO/OSU etc) and a smattering of others. Most colleges unfortunately value APs as being equivalent to IB HLs in giving credit while giving 0 weightage to IB SLs in terms of credit. This is because the AP system is a US Collegeboard system while the IB program is European/Swiss and the IBO has not lobbied the US universities for proper recognition correctly valuing the complexity of the program.
you do not take Theory of Knowledge (TOK) unless you are a full IB diploma candidate. That course is extremely interesting and encourages different ways of thinking which is why I do encourage everyone to pursue the IB diploma if they are able to! With your grade in math, I would definitely not suggest taking math HL since the only people I know taking math HL at my school absolutely LOVE math and have been born to do it (and yet still struggle with it). Math being one of my weaker subjects, I take math SL and find it more manageable. If you can take biology at a higher level (since most colleges only accept scores from HL classes, and you’re most likely required to take bio again in college) and then math studies or SL, I highly suggest it. Talk to your IB coordinator and teachers since they can also tell you if you are able to take on the program since it is extremely rigorous and does require a lot of effort.
All of that being said, it is ultimately up to you if you think you are personally able to take on the course. I take IB Bio, English, and History of the Americans (all HL) and IB psychology, Italian, and math (all SL), and I feel extremely prepared for college. Not only in the aspect of learning a lot of pertinent information that will come up again in college, but in regards of being able to manage my time, study a lot, and balance school work and my own life (all which is necessary in order to be successful in college). That being said, I’ve been accepted to more competitive institutions (in my opinion) such as NYU and Emory which I mostly credit to being an IB diploma candidate since my GPA and ACT score was under their middle 50% score ranges. During my application process for college, I talked about IB as much as I could in order to help college counselors understand a bit more on how IB is much more than the rigorous classes (CAS, the Extended Essay, TOK, etc). I really do hope you at least attempt to take as many IB classes as possible if you don’t choose to pursue the diploma! Nonetheless, good luck in your last two years of high school! Sorry this is so long haha
My S is an IB diploma candidate - senior. I agree with above posts that some colleges don’t understand/ appreciate the rigor of it. And while he took AP world history as a Sophomore and scored a 5, there are no IB scores to show. If you do choose IB make sure you take the SAT subject test(s) of your strongest subjects/ intended major. This will show your strength in that area.
One school that definitely does “get” IB is Univ of Rochester. At one of their recruiting nights they actually asked who was in IB and asked to speak to those students afterwards. S ultimately got into there, Brown and Cornell. I’ll try to get him to respond to you on here as well. Best of luck to you.
@BUalum93 I actually applied to U of Rochester only because of their appreciation for the IB program; however, I didn’t seem to receive as much FA as I thought I would (including merit aid)
I have been really curious about the merit at Rochester. Would you mind sharing what % of tuition you got in merit? Was it at least half tuition? Thanks.
@jjuar16 my S didn’t get as much as we had hoped as well. Looks like Brown and Cornell will cost about the same or less. Best of luck making your final decision.
I am a current IBDP year 2 student and I have just finished my entire college application process. I have gotten into some good schools but I would like to add that people who haven’t even done IB in my school (not even AP!) have gotten into better schools ( I am clearly not talking about non- academics here, and I am not trying to debunk their caliber). This is because with most good schools, they DO NOT understand the rigor of IB. They simply do not get it. For example, I had applied with a 3.8 UW gpa ( which is really really hard to do when you have all IB classes), and I merely got waitlisted and rejected from many schools ( not Harvard or Yale, schools like Uni of Minnesota – which is also excellent). When I asked them for information, they said my ACT score of 30 was relatively low ( Yes I am Asian). Now I understood that but then I asked them what about me taking rigorous classes and doing well on them. Two schools simply stated, that this wasn’t a major factor as we don’t need to see all IB courses but rather see higher test scores with a mix of normal and IB courses. This was heartbreaking as IB IS REALLY TOUGH and it includes sleepless nights, stress and mental breakdowns, while kids who decided to do just two IB courses are getting into better universities because they have higher test scores. Obviously, IB will prepare you like nothing other for college but if your goal is to get into a better university with IBDP then think again!