Can I Pursue an IB Diploma Without IB Biology at JFK High School?

[CannedApples]

Hi, currently I am a sophomore in high school. I've decided to join my schools IB Program and go for the full diploma. But I'm unsure whether or not I can get the Diploma because of the foreign language. I also have some problems with the IB science my school offers. I attend John F. Kennedy High School, we are new to the IB world, so at the moment we only have IB Biology. I've talked to the coordinator and my counsoler and they're both uncertain whether or not we'll get IB Physics/IB Chemistry.

Here's my last year schedule and this years':

Freshman year:
English 9
United States History
Physical Education
Spanish 1
Algebra 1
Matter and Energy
Foundation of Technology

Sophomore year (right now):
Pre-IB English 10
AP United States Politics and Government
Honors Health
Spanish 2
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
Introduction to Engineering Design

Junior year:
IB English
IB History of the Americas
IB Film Studies
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB Mathematics SL
Spanish 3 (IB Spanish 4 by second semester If I can prove I'm good)
IB Biology (Really don't want it...)

Senior year:
The corresponding year 2 classes of the IB program. Not sure what happens after one year of ToK, and either IB Spanish 4, 5, or with ANY luck 6...

As you can see, I want to show improvement from my crappy grades in Middle School and on level courses in Freshman year. I have plans to take Algebra 2 over the summer (I've already started with the materials) so that I'll be nearly on track. Current in Spanish 2 I have near perfect As on each test/quiz. I've heard from an IB upper classmate that he was in French 3 his Junior year, showed well skills in the language, and his teacher sent him to IB French 4 in the second semester. I feel my Spanish is good for a level 2 student, and my teacher agrees. On another note, I REALLY hate Biology, not because its hard, cause it really isn't. I have a near perfect A in Honors Biology right now, and every quarter. But I have goals of going to college and majoring in fields like Astrophysics, Cosmology, Physics, Chemical engineering, and Aerospace engineering. So I'd love to know if I could NOT take IB Biology, and instead take AP Physics and AP Chemistry, while still getting my IB Diploma. From what I'm trying to do in my 2.5 remaining years of high school, do Universities favor this kind of self-improvement and academic growth, or do they expect people to have had a good start right off the bat?

And if you all could give me some information about any chance I could have at getting into Universities like these that'd be great (I have an overall GPA of 3+ ):
-University of Arizona
-University of Alabama
-University of Berkley California
-University of Maryland
and my personal favorite
-University of Cambridge, England

If anyone knows some other Universities with Astrophysics, Physics, Cosmology, and Aerospace Engineering Undergrad/Grad programs please inform me!

Thank for taking the time to read this.

 

[chez_butt23]

Well bud, I can't really help you too much with the IB stuff, as my high school only offers AP classes. However, I can tell you that if you don't want to take Biology, then don't, becase you probably won't do too well (AP Bio was a TON of work), but I have no idea if this will stop you from getting the IB diploma.

About your college choices, as a high school senior, I just went through that whole process (going to UC Davis next year) and its a difficult several months of applications. You've listed some good schools, but you should be able to walk into Arizona and Alabama no problem. (I'm assuming a 3+ gpa is about a 3.8-3.9 weighted). I don't know anything about Maryland, sorry. However, if you want to get into Cal or Cambridge, you're going to need to step up your game. I can't help you with Cambridge, but I can with Cal. Berkeley only looks at your 10-12 weighted gpa, so you're in luck if you messed up freshman year. Also, you need to do REALLY well on your SAT/ACT if you want to get in (I got rejected with a 4.21 gpa, amazing extracrriculars, and okay SAT/ACT scores). I am convinced the only thing that stopped me from getting in was my test scores (1970 and 30, not too good).

Remember though, you should go to college where you will be happy, which will, along with good school ranking, make you a happy and successful student.

 

[Mépris]

You have to do a Science in IB. Whether it's HL Physics or effing Environmental Systems, you have to do a science subject. Why are you doing seven subjects, again? Six, along with CAS, EE and TOK, is more than enough already.

Actually, why would you even want to do IB, especially since you cannot do Physics with it? I'm pretty certain you can apply to Cambridge with 5 APs but check out their website for the specific course requirements, just to be certain. Also, in your case, doing Mathematics SL is ridiculous, considering you want to study Physics or Engineering. Maths HL is the way to go.

 

[CannedApples]

My hope is that my school we have IB Physics, I asked about it near the middle the 3rd quarter, maybe things have changed.

 

[randomperson8]

hey there. I was in a similar situation to you in high school. I'm an IB diploma graduate and I'd just like to say I REALLY regret ever doing that terrible program.

Like you, they didn't offer any physics at the IB level for me either. Instead I took chemistry. There were only 8 people in the class and we had a terrible teacher. Then when I got to intro physics in college I struggled. Had I had rigorous physics in high school I imagine it would have gone over much better in college.

Furthermore, a lot of colleges don't even recognize the IB program and give the AP kids loads more credit for having done much less work and undergoing much less misery. My recommendation is to get out of the IB program and find an AP high school where you can take AP physics. If you're interested in going into physics in college you should take as much PHYSICS as possible in high school to prepare you. Also take the hardest math possible, of course. Try to take AP calculus BC. If you pass that exam some schools will even give you credit up to calc II, and if you get a good teacher it's much more realistic that you'll do well there than in IB HL Math, which is just ridiculous. At one point in HL math I remember we were given an assignment that asked us to prove something that was virtually impossible without knowledge of very high level mathematics well beyond the scope of the course, and it was a significant chunk of our grade. We jumped all over the place through topics and only spent like a couple months (over the two year progam) on calculus.

It is my opinion that if you're interested in math and physical sciences get out of the IB program. It seems to screw people over.

 

[CannedApples]

Currently now, the AP Physics teacher at my school is telling me that we might indeed have IB Physics next. And ues, I've heard of the IB Program being extremely difficult, but from what I've seen the pay off in the end seems to be great, and all the colleges I think of attending look upon an IB Diploma well.

 

[randomperson8]

If they do end up offering IB HL Physics, great. Before you start the program though you should really think about it and ask yourself if you can handle this kind of workload. Do you really have the motivation and the smarts for it? You're going to be working non-stop constantly and endure lots and lots of pain and misery in this program.

Honestly I'd still recommend trying to switch to AP, simply because what I've heard is that it's about the same level of rigor, but only in the classes you want to take, and ALL colleges know about this program. Too many times when I was applying to college they were just like "IB? what's that?" A lot of schools only gave credit for the HL classes and nothing for the SLs.

Finally, if you do IB you're going to want to take HL Mathematics not SL. If you want to do physics you're going to need to take the most rigorous math courses you can take and you need to ACE them all.

Really if I were you I'd just take AP Physics and AP Calculus BC and maybe a couple other AP classes. This will still be VERY challenging, but you'll at least have a little free time most likely. You should try to enjoy yourself in high school and not let your soul get sucked away by IB.

 

[CannedApples]

Well, in the weeks after I wrote this, my school has decided to offer IB Chemistry. Still, I have no idea if we're offering IB Physics. I've asked both the AP Physics teacher and IB Coordinator, but they're both unsure as to "Did enough people sign up for the course".