<p>Hello everyone! I have been lurking the community for a while now, and I have a few questions. First, I am faced with a large decision on transferring schools. I go to a great high school, taking all honors and every AP course that I can get in. However, that is not as much as I would like it to be. About 5-6 for my entire high school career. Is this suitable for getting into good colleges? I plan to major in dentistry, and my top three are University of Pacific 5 year accelerated, UNC, and UF. Do I have a good chance at getting into these three? My cumulative GPA so far is a 3.8, but I have only just completed my freshman year. Should I transfer to the IB program? I am nervous about the amount of work and the change in curriculum, but i could adjust to that. I know I am planning a bit early for my future, but I like to be proactive. Thank you everyone for your time and responses!</p>
<p>Are you serious right now?</p>
<p>Oh my God.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t see a problem with my post, there is nothing wrong with thinking about my future. Thank you.</p>
<p>I hope you realize that you are evaluated relative to what your HS offers. So while your transfer HS may offer more, the ceiling is higher too.</p>
<p>You don’t major in dentistry, you take pre-dental coursework within ANY major and then apply to Dental school.</p>
<p>Chances belong on the What are my Chances forum, post that portion of your questions there.</p>
<p>I have never heard of that before. I thought colleges judged you on your Class rank, GPA, Essay, EC’s, SAT/ACT scores, and leadership skills. I do know that you cannot major in dentistry, I was just throwing out what I would like to become. Thank you!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, colleges look at all of those things. But that was not what my comment was about as I was addressing what you wrote about in your OP, coursework and transferring.</p>
<p>Class rank is inherently relative to your high school. And GPA is meaningless except in the context of your high school.</p>
<p>If you take all the APs offered at your high school, you’re in great shape in terms of academic rigor when it comes to admissions.</p>
<p>If you can take only 6 APs and you take all 6, that’s better than someone who can take 14 (not in terms of number of subjects, but in terms of number of APs that fit in a schedule together) but only takes 7.</p>
<p>However, the IB program will better prepare you for college. The work you do in the IB program will be worth it when it comes time to succeed in college-level classes.</p>
<p>You can’t really go wrong either way in terms of rigor. Admissions officers consider the IB Diploma just about as rigorous as it gets–but they also will consider taking all the APs offered just about as rigorous as it gets (unless your fellow students are taking all the APs offered and then taking courses at a community college on top of it).</p>
<p>I am not an expert, but from what I have gathered, both IB and AP are considered rigorous classes. Much depends on what your school offers. I would not choose a direction just because it is rigorous if you don’t feel you would be comfortable there. You might check with your HS counselor and ask them if they would consider what you are currently doing to be the ‘most rigorous’ your school offers (and if they would be able to say so on a college recommendation). In our district the IB program is a predetermined set of courses, you don’t really get many options for electives that you might have with AP.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your responses!</p>