<p>I want to take courses that are challenging, but not mind-blowingly difficult-mind you, I don't want any fluff courses either!</p>
<p>Hi, do you have any other info, like what grade are you going into? That might help us to help you out better.</p>
<p>You should take IB classes in your favorite subjects. For example, I lovelovelove Biology and, well, all the sciences, including Chemistry and Physics. As a result, I AP in them (my school doesn’t offer IB). So take IB classes in something you enjoy :)</p>
<p>I’ve recently completed the IB diploma and in my opinion all courses are challenging in their own ways. I don’t think admission officers will criticize you for taking history instead of economics for example… You should choose the subjects that you are interested in and preferably the one’s related to your possible major/study area. That way if you enjoy your subjects then you’re more likely to do better grade wise!</p>
<p>So if you really want to challenge yourself take either 4 HLs or 7 subjects. That’ll blow the admission officers’ minds! 
I took 4 HLs and it was manageable (I got 41). You also wrote that you don’t want it to be too overly challenging so maybe you should go with 4 HLs because I think 7 subjects is slightly harder (but it is probably manageable as well). :)</p>