<p>Being an IB Diploma Candidate just indicates to them that you are taking one of the hardest course loads available which is something they look for. Your GPA is weighted, which doesn't mean too much. It's better to know your unweighted GPA and class rank before we can really make any sort of judgment on your chances.</p>
<p>Thanks-I believe my uw gpa is a 4.0 since I've had As in all of my high school courses (i dont think my school realeases uw gpa). However I realize that will change in the next two years as the rigor of my classes increases. As for class rank, im currently 1st in my class (along with 2 of my friends with the same gpa).</p>
<p>Being full IB diploma will help a lot. My school is an IB school, meaning people are basically forced to take IB courses starting 11th and 12th grade, and pre-IB courses throughout the previous years. I can tell you from my own experience and the other 2 people that got in from my school that full IB helps a lot. I don't think your unweighted GPA would be 4 if your weighted is 4.2 though, it must be lower than that. For example my unweighted was 3.65ish while my weighted was a 4.01 something, so its probably a bit lower. But again full IB is great, you should've taken HL physics its an awsome class ;)</p>
<p>Weights are variable among all counties/states/countries. I think the OP would know if they've made all As or not. </p>
<p>Being IB, as I said, helps, but it's not too much different from taking an equally challenging set of courses in some other manner. Essentially it comes down to what your guidance counselor has to check for the question "How would you estimate this student's courseload?" or something like that. Admissions officers know the time and rigor it takes to go through those classes so they will take it into account.</p>
<p>Overall, IB or not, your chances are very good. A 2000+ SAT will help, but if you stay around that area in terms of class rank you will probably get in, especially as a Hispanic.</p>
<p>^^ I disagree... Being a full IB diploma candidate is a lot different from taking an equally challenging set of courses. But, in the eyes of admissions, they might look upon it as the same level of difficulty. Perhaps and hopefully that is what sv3A meant.</p>
<p>Yea I wished I had the oppurtunity to take HL physics, but my school doesnt offer it. I'm in 10th grade right now, I have a 4.2 b/c ive taken two AP classes, and some half weighted classes. I also plan to take the SAT again next year to get it in that 2000+ range. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Obviously parts of the curriculum and the overall structure of the program are different from alternatives, but in the end being IB doesn't net any special advantage over students who challenged themselves equally with other means.</p>
<p>Will being IB help you over an applicant who has taken a few AP courses total? Yes, of course. Will it be better than someone who has taken a rigorous education with 4 or so AP classes junior and senior year? Probably not.</p>
<p>Specifically in a high school with an IB Program already in it, there probably would not be an equal challenge because that school's resources are going to IB instead of other alternatives. However, I would say attending a Governor's School for math and science and taking a number of courses there in subjects like physics, calculus and post-calculus math, etc would be equally challenging as IB. Also schools have honors programs where students take AP and other honors courses which could be said to be as challenging as well. Even going to certain private schools or academies is harder than typical Virginia public schools, which is why some of them have such high acceptance rates into UVA and other top schools.</p>
<p>Gov school varies from school to school. If you are not IB, you usually don't get the use of the resources because of the cost of the program. Taking honors and AP course equally challenging as IB? You got to be kidding.</p>
<p>IB varies from school to school as well. I don't see why the IB program is more challenging than taking the AP courses provided by a school. One thing AP students don't have to do is the extra work associated with IB, but IB also comes with fluff classes such as SL courses which are basically taking the curriculum of an AP course and spreading it over two years while throwing in a few extra things (if any new information is added at all). Additionally, in many schools the 'Theory of Knowledge' course is mostly BS and is variable upon who is teaching it. Even some HL courses are basically AP curriculum and just two or three more topics of extra information added to somehow become a two year course. Like I said, the structure of the program differs from other things, but in the end there are easily equal alternatives to IB.</p>
<p>IB will help you tremendously, trust me. It distinguishes the candidates very well because of the hard courseload. Usually, admission officers prefer IB students.</p>
<p>The IB program and taking full on AP courses is essentially the same in my area, according to a friend of mine who is in IB. It's just a difference in name. Trust me, while IB will probably look favorable, it probably won't be the only factor to push an IB candidate over someone who took challenging courses in high school.</p>
<p>sv3a is right in that the strength of an IB program can vary just like the AP program. Still, I have never heard of anyone taking a 2 year SL course....that would be a waste of time.</p>
<p>I guess I meant the higher level courses in general but there are some SLs that are taken over two years in many schools. The two IB SL Maths have some pretty easy content, but the one in my school technically went two years. I'm not sure what exactly was on their exam, but they didn't even do Calculus until the first semester of 12th grade (maybe this is when the prescribed curriculum actually starts). Basically you can just replace 'IB Program' with a number of other things, based on where you live, and get equally competitive students.</p>
<p>I wouldn't waste my time on too many SL exams...college that had my interest last summer wouldn't even give credit for SL. I only took SL if it was really necessary.</p>
<p>HL, IMO is a beast in some subjects like Math, Chem, or Physics...or so I have heard.</p>
<p>Some science subjects do have substance to them, but it's still not that big of a deal. In Chem HL there are like 4 or 5 extra topics than AP, but personally I don't think they are that much harder compared to AP Chem. Most of the time extra topics in HL are just extensions of already existing ones, and not so often new material. Our school didn't offer IB Physics HL until after I graduated so I wouldn't know about that too much. I took IB Bio HL instead- we didn't have advanced physics since the demand was taken care of by Gov School.</p>
<p>SL I think is for people who can't really handle the content in that particular subject because it's just not their thing or their school doesn't offer an alternative. SL Math is an extremely easy way out over HL Math- which is one of the few subjects that legitimately adds another year of material over AP (though, as I said, I wouldn't know about Physics, as well as Music, Computer Science, and a few others). Also in my school we were required to take SL Geography in either junior or senior year (we didn't have HL).</p>
<p>I'm just speaking from my experience. I've gotten the full IB Diploma, have taken AP courses, and have taken courses at my local Governor's School for Sci and Tech all at the same time. Previous to going to IB, I went to a private school where the 9-12 was difficult due to competition from a fair amount of intelligent students. From what I can tell, IB just has more annoyances (IA/EAs, EE, etc), but isn't necessarily more difficult or challenging than any of these alternatives.</p>