jhouck11

like the full IB? like will that help my chances of getting in if I have this? I have to go to a meeting next week where I need to tell them yay or nay. so lemme know! or if you know if any of the other Ivys like it lemme know too! thanks in advanced!

jhouck11

BUMP! ahhh i'm dying to know!

Harvard Business

What is IB?

piccolojunior

For admissions, it certainly helps to show the rigorous courseload is there.

For placement...not so much. You need a 7 in four different HL subjects to qualify for advanced standing...much harder than 5s in AP exams that add up to eight semesters of coursework.

Northstarmom

Harvard prefers that you have taken the most rigorous courseload possible. Whether that's full IB or a rigorous AP schedule doesn't matter.

jhouck11

woot! full ib 4 mi. is anyone doing the full IB? and that applied to harvard?

gadad

In my two Ds' cases, "most rigorous" meant taking the three or four APs available at their school and supplementing them with joint enrollment coursework at the local state college. H admissions seems to do an excellent job of evaluating individual applications individually and considering the student's available resources.

tokenadult

I can add to what Northstarmom has said that Harvard admission officers have specifically said at public meetings that Harvard doesn't have a systematic preference for IB, say, over AP courses. I know many local examples of students admitted to Harvard who took dual-enrollment college courses, as gadad mentioned. Find a locally appropriate challenging opportunity for yourself, and do your best in it. Harvard can see beyond the brand names of the different programs.

Good luck in your applications.

jhouck11

okay and one last thing, for the full IB you only need to take one Foreign Language test, but I have two languages that I can take the test on, spanish and french. spanish is much stronger so i'm gonna take that but i want to know that they can see the french too. ideas?

jhouck11

any1? please?

piccolojunior

You don't need to take the test to prove you know French. Harvard's application asks what languages you're proficient in outside of English (which you label with R, W, S for reading, writing, and/or speaking). Unless you want to be a linguist, I don't see how taking french will "improve" your chances anywhere, although saying you like to study french as a hobby (like I did with german) isn't a bad idea.