Hello, my name is Eva and I am soon going to start my first year as an IB student. I am interested in both Engineering and Business and I am also aiming for top colleges such as NYU, UCLA, Cornell etc. I cannot decide what subjects to take, but for now I am thinking about taking Econ HL, Italian HL (becuase it’s my first language), Computer science HL, Math SL, Business SL, Eng Lit and Lang SL. I’m not sure if this is the right combination, it would be very appreciated if someone could help me with this. (Also please note that I know for engineering I should be taking Math at HL and also physics, but I am not taking them because I want my options for both Engineering and business open and also scoring a 7 is pretty hard in Math HL and if I get below a 6 or 7 it will affect my GPA).
English, math, and economics are the most obvious HL choices. Business majors require calculus, so you may as well take math HL.
You should take some physics in high school to help prepare for physics in college for engineering.
@ucbalumnus Thank you for the info, I am not taking physics and high level of math in IB because I have evidently seen that it is very hard to score a 6 or 7. But I am taking AP Calc BC and Physics C as an alternative of taking it in IB. I hope this raises my chance in both Business and Engineering. What are your thoughts about this?
how would your IB score impact GPA?
AP physics C is more advanced than IB physics (SL or HL), since the latter do not use calculus, although the latter covers more topics.
AP calculus BC covers most or all of a typical first year level single variable calculus course. IB math HL is similar in terms of what colleges will give advanced placement for, although it may cover some additional topics.