HELP! Should I take chemistry or economics at Higher level

[sunlightzone]

Hey everyone!

 

Hope you all are doing fine.

I will be starting my IB course really soon, and i need to decide on what subjects I am going to be taking within the next 2 weeks.

I am generally good in the sciences and mathematics, so these are what I intend to take

 

HL Physics

HL Math

HL ??

 

SL Lang & Lit

SL French Ab Initio

SL ??

 

I have also made up my mind that I will be taking both Chemistry and Economics. So my question is: which one should i take in higher level and which one at standard, assuming I have roughly the same aptitude and interest in both?

and which combo will allow me to have a higher chance of getting a 7 for both?

 

In terms of what i want to study in university, i am rather undecided by I'm sure i will not be doing anything related to medicine/pharmacy/ stuff where you work in a lab.

 

Plus, if I take Phy, Math, Chem as my HLs, will I come off as not being very well rounded when I apply for universities?

 

Thanks a lot for your help!!! 

 

- Sunlightzone

[alexalexalex]

Begin with all 4! And then you can easily drop one when the time comes that you feel ready to do so.

Not only is it good for the chem/econ decision, but at my school everyone who chooses Maths HL has to take 4 HLs because so many people underestimate it.

And no, if for example you want to do something with engineering or physic-mathsy stuff at Uni have chem wouldn't be a disadvantage. BUT if you want to do something with economics/business, all you need is econ but there it would be a huge advantage to have HL Maths.

[sunlightzone]

Hey Alex!

 

Thanks for your advice

 

But the thing is, my school only allows us to take 3 HLs and 3 SLs. Thats why I'm really confused as to which one to take. 

 

And yea, I think math would be a big advantage in uni and so I'm 100% sure i won't drop from math HL to SL.

[Gaby]

BUT if you want to do something with economics/business, all you need is econ but there it would be a huge advantage to have HL Maths.

 

 

There are usually no requirements when it comes to doing business, apart from maybe taking Maths SL instead of studies. You're unlikely to see econ as a requirement. HL Maths will be a requirement for doing economics at top universities, but, once again, unlikely econ will be required. You can get into either of those degrees without taking econ in IB. 

 

With what you're planning to do, OP, I think both Chem and Econ should be fine choices, but check the entry requirements of the universities you're considering. 

[NeedHelpGonnaFailIB]

You don't really need chemistry HL for any university apart from directly chemistry related fields (Chemistry, biochemistry etc). There's not much of a difference between economics HL and SL (with HL having a bit of extra maths and a little bit more of microeconomics), while there's a lot more workload if you're taking chemistry HL than SL. So I would advise you to take economics.

[Andrew Noh]

From my 4 months in the IB program, what I've gathered is that Econ is one of the easier HLs (that doesn't necessarily mean its not hard though).

 

I, personally, take Chem HL, and it's pretty challenging content-wise.

[sunlightzone]

@ Gaby, NeedHelpgonnafailIB, Andrew

 

Thanks for your input

Will think about it tonight

[alexalexalex]

Hey Alex!

 

Thanks for your advice

 

But the thing is, my school only allows us to take 3 HLs and 3 SLs. Thats why I'm really confused as to which one to take. 

 

And yea, I think math would be a big advantage in uni and so I'm 100% sure i won't drop from math HL to SL.

Ohhh.. Well in that case I would also recommend taking economics because then you have both Econ and Engineering open for Uni (unless you want to do chemical engineering specifically which I presume you won't as you would have taken Chem HL already then)

Good luck with everything!