Which IB classes to take for Bioengineering Major?

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
1

Hello! i will be doing IBDP this up coming school year as a junior and i plan on majoring in bioengineering hopefully at UCLA, UCI, or UCR, or UCSD. I wanted to know which IB courses would prepare for my major most?

here is what i will be taking next year so far:

English HL
Math HL
Biology HL
Psychology HL
Chemistry SL
French SL

my school does not offer physics hl or sl at all. should i take chem HL instead of bio HL or does it not matter? Also, what can i do to increase my chances of admission since the field of bioengineering is pretty competitive.

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For context I am a Biomedical Engineering major at Johns Hopkins and have an IB Diploma.

Your schedule looks pretty good for a prospective BioE major. One thing you may want to consider is taking HL Chemistry (as your Group 6 elective) and swapping HL Psychology with an SL Group 5 subject (history, economics, psych…). This would maximize your usable transfer credits at the UCs. However it would be difficult and I would only recommend it if you’re strong in math and science and have the stamina/willpower to keep up with three HL STEM classes.

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If in California I would do SL Economics since it’s a state grad requirement anyways.

4

^ it’s also pretty interesting and relatively easy.

5

Thanks for the advice! At my school it would be a bit hard for 2 HL science classes due to the lab hours required outside of school so I was thinking of swapping SL chemistry for visual arts SL or Econ SL and then adding AP chem outside my of my IB schedule for senior year OR swapping bio HL for chem HL and then taking AP physics or bio senior year outside my schedule… But I don’t know how hard it would be. I really am considering taking both HL chemistry and biology that’s actually a good idea but I’m afraid I won’t be able to manage

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Also I from what I heard it’s easier to score higher on bio them an it is for chem? I like chemistry slightly more than bio but I feel like my honors chemistry teacher wasn’t the best and I’m afraid she hasn’t prepared me enough for chem HL

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However however I am definitely willing to work hard and give it my all its just the 2.5 hours after school hours each bio and chem for labs idk I’m so lost and I am overthinking everything. Which in class would help me more for my specific major?