Hello!
So I am planning to take the international Baccalaureate program (i take 12 college level classes, junior and senior year and do projects) but I am not sure on my senior year math, I know i want to major in biology in college so keep that in mind also my school requires you to have 1 credit (2 semesters) of an art to graduate -
I could take pre calc as my senior year math and then take a college(IB) business class as my Art credit for 2 years and not take a class I really want to take(IB Health) OR I could take 1 year of that college level business class as my senior year math AND my art credit and take 2 years of College level health class that I really want to take but not take Pre Calc
So what im asking is that if I do not take Pre Calc or a real math senior year and take a college level business class ,will this hurt my admissions into college? Especially if I want to go to a school like Columbia University? I looked at the under grad admissions website and they recommend 3 to 4 years of math but I am just not sure what I want to do. Please help.
If you are doing an IB diploma, don’t you need an IB math course? IB math SL or HL (or math AA SL or HL) will better prepare you for math in college than IB math studies SL. Biology majors commonly need to take calculus in college.
If you do not need to take an IB math course, take precalculus so that you can be ready for calculus in college.
You should take Math SL ( or math AA SL in the new system).
If your school divides it up, precalculus junior year, Math AASL senior year.
Business math doesn’t count for a college stem major.
Yes, it will. Biology is a STEM major, and a lot of STEM applicants into top schools have calculus under their belts by the time they finish high school.
For IB, in lieu of a Group 6 (Arts) course, you can take a second course from Groups 1-4, but a college-level business class does not count for IB. But I’m not understanding the original question, as one needs a Group 5 math class for the IBDP.
Not going beyond Algebra 2 (or its equivalent) when applying to a school like Columbia (as well as many not really close to like Columbia) as a STEM major will be quite challenging, IMHO. I checked the Plan of Study for Biology at a few schools and they all start with Calc 1/Calc 2 freshman year.
If you don’t take it, you’ll likely need to take it over the summer or play catch-up your first several semesters.
IB math also offers a choice between AA/regular (SL or HL in both current and new AA version) and AI/studies (SL only currently, but HL available in new AI version). AA/regular is for students who will take more math in college, while AI/studies is for those who will not. For most US students in IB programs, the AA/regular option is preferable.
^ strictly speaking, both HLs (AA and AI ) are for students who will take more math, at a high level in college. Imperial (the top school of engineering in the UK) has indicated both will be considered equally and sufficient pre-reqs.
AA SL is similar to precalculus+calc AB+ stats and is fine for students who will be taking Calculus or any math in college. It’s likely the most common class that’ll be taken.
AI SL is for students who will only take gen Ed classes for a quantitative requirement, such as elementary statistics, math for citizenship, etc.
A student who wants to major in STEM should take AA SL or either HL course.