CONFUSED with subject selection

[empire]

I plan on studying economics / business at university and must decide my subjects and im really confused . Im taking HL - Eco , English and I have to decide between business and psychology . I did business in igcse and enjoyed it but I hear in IB doing it at HL is useless as colleges dont give credits for business , I am interested in psychology but I heard there is alot of memorization and I dont know if ill be able to do it . Is it better if I do psychology and get a lower score than doing business and getting a higher score as colleges will know I took a harder subject ? Please help me choose between HL business or psychology . My SLs are going to be - Math , french ab and Biology or ess . I have to decide hear too as I wanna do ess but colleges reccomend you to take a real science like biology I have no idea if this is true so can someone please help me , Im sure if I do ess ill get a higher score but I wont get any credits . Bio also has a lot to memorize and if I wanna go into business / economics is taking an actual science neccesary or even helpful ? If anyone could give me any feedback it would mean alot . Also I am only taking HL ENG lang and lit is because im terrified of math and wont be able to do it , so if its a whole new combination you think I could take please let me know . If theres anyone who plans on studying eco/business in uni and is doing IB what subjects did you take ??? Thanksss

[IBGeek]

10 minutes ago, empire said:

I did business in igcse and enjoyed it but I hear in IB doing it at HL is useless as colleges dont give credits for business , 

2

Hi, I haven't heard of post-secondary institutes not giving credit for HL business before, at least here in Canada. If you're going to do business in college, I would think that business would be the most valued subject, right? Your best bet is to call some colleges that you're interested in attending, and ask them. They can give you a definitive answer. You can also ask them your question about whether it's better to do psyc and get a lower score, vs doing business and getting a lower score. 

Here in Canada, you can get into a lot of business courses with either business or psychology. But I know that a lot of my friends interested in business take the business course over phycology, as it is more directly applicable to the curriculum in university. I would suggest business too. Maybe if you're interested in phychology, you'll enjoy tok. If your favoured colleges give credit for business, I would go for business.

I'm pretty sure bio or ess aren't prerequisites for many business courses, so take the one you're most interested in. If your favoured college wants you to do bio, than do that. Otherwise, do the one you want/think will be easier. Much of bio or ess won't be applicable to the business course in university anyways. (However, if you plan on studying a science along side business in university, take biology.)

Many IB students, including myself, experience great fear when choosing courses because we want to pick courses that we'll do well in, and courses that universities will value. In IB, you'll find a great workload no matter what course you take. And the courses are designed to be challenging. But as long as you are motivated to do well, you'll do great!

[VeronicaG]

Business/economics don't have many prerequisites, so taking subjects you're good at shouldn't be a problem. You already have HL Econ and L&L which is preferred. If I were you, take psych and ess. It's better to have a high score.

However you should double check with the colleges you like. 

[empire]

5 hours ago, VeronicaG said:

Business/economics don't have many prerequisites, so taking subjects you're good at shouldn't be a problem. You already have HL Econ and L&L which is preferred. If I were you, take psych and ess. It's better to have a high score.

However you should double check with the colleges you like. 

But taking psych would reduce my chance at getting a higher score ... Also has it ever been said that Business Managment is considered an easier subject by any uni ?

[VeronicaG]

8 hours ago, empire said:

But taking psych would reduce my chance at getting a higher score ... Also has it ever been said that Business Managment is considered an easier subject by any uni ?

 

I know Business Management is considered easy by IB students, but I've never heard of a uni that considers it easy. Certainly all IB courses are difficult and unis might recognize that. Take what you like. Unis care about your marks and maybe your extracurriculars. I've never heard of a uni that rejected someone just because they had 'easy' IB courses.

[kw0573]

Also ESS has a very very low percentage of students getting 6s or 7s (at combined ~15%, as opposed to 20-30%> for physics, biology and chemistry). So I am not sure how you can justify that you can definitely get a higher score. With this in mind, it may be better to take some courses that you are going to get transfer credits in. 

For majors like Business Management, you could try for an MBA after undergrad or get another minor/major going on, so high school biology/chemistry/physics might help your explore the latter. 

Ultimately any attempt to discard courses based on difficulty is premature and you should primarily choose among courses you like. Once you starting looking the beyond most elite (top 20) undergrad schools then you'll find that most are very willing to accept IB students with decent scores (such as 34/35+).