Help me with picking my subjects?

[janegoh]

Hi guys! So I just joined IBSurvival this morning, so relieved to find an IB community helping one another. I'm a Malaysian student finishing my final high school year in November, but as I'm planning to apply to universities in the U.S., I'm going to take the IB Diploma in Australia next year as my Malaysian high school qualification isn't internationally recognized.

A bit about myself: I'm aspiring to be an actress, artist and/or a model, but I understand that it's really tough to make a living out of these jobs. So, my backup plan is to maybe become a journalist, social worker or archaeologist. I'm not entirely sure yet what I will major in in university, but I'm interested in studying Sociology, Journalism, Drama, Studio Art, Archaeology or Anthropology. My parents told me that if I'm going to study fine arts, I'd have to major in business too, though. Except I have 0 interest in business... I'll worry about that in the future

Do you guys think you can help me decide which subjects I could take for the IB Diploma to prepare myself for the Uni courses I just mentioned?

Currently, here's what I have in mind:

1. English Language and Literature HL

2. Spanish/French ab initio or Chinese B (I'm Chinese and I can speak Chinese, but I'm not the best at writing and reading)

3 & 4. Environmental Systems and Socieites

5. Mathematics SL

6. Visual Arts HL

Additional subject: Theatre HL or if possible, Psychology HL or Social and Cultural Anthropology HL (??? Read below)

I wanted to study Psychology, as it has some elements of Sociology in it, but I'm not interested in studying any other Science subject so I have to opt for Environmental Systems and Societies, which allows me to pick another subject from the other subject groups, which is why I picked Theatre. But I'd really love to study Psychology. Please tell me I'm wrong and that I can actually pick another subject from Group 3 for the additional subject.

Also, will taking Theatre help me develop my acting skills more than just taking regular external classes?

Thank you for reading everyone! Hope you have a great day  

Edited September 9, 2017 by janegoh

[Guest]

Hi, if you're planning to apply to the U.S, they don't care as much about your final score but more about how you do in each class, your SAT scores, and maybe English language requirements like TOEFL or IELTS, and things you do outside of class (Like activities, sports, etc.). If you plan on taking the SAT (A lot of universities require it only encourage it and give you a higher chance of scholarship or aid), maybe perhaps don't take the Diploma, maybe take Certificates, so there's less requirements and you can take all the classes you actually need and want to take, and not take the unnecessary ones. Especially since most universities if you want to take Theatre or Art, they'll care about your portfolio and audition for theatre or arts, thus you'll have not to worry about TOK/EE/CAS, and you can work on your portfolio and audition material? Hope this might be helpful to you, i'm also in DP1 and going to take certificates (Visual Arts HL, so if we both take this class, feel free to contact me if you decide on Visual Arts) Wish you the best of luck!  

[janegoh]

2 hours ago, BernOnFire said:

Hi, if you're planning to apply to the U.S, they don't care as much about your final score but more about how you do in each class, your SAT scores, and maybe English language requirements like TOEFL or IELTS, and things you do outside of class (Like activities, sports, etc.). If you plan on taking the SAT (A lot of universities require it only encourage it and give you a higher chance of scholarship or aid), maybe perhaps don't take the Diploma, maybe take Certificates, so there's less requirements and you can take all the classes you actually need and want to take, and not take the unnecessary ones. Especially since most universities if you want to take Theatre or Art, they'll care about your portfolio and audition for theatre or arts, thus you'll have not to worry about TOK/EE/CAS, and you can work on your portfolio and audition material? Hope this might be helpful to you, i'm also in DP1 and going to take certificates (Visual Arts HL, so if we both take this class, feel free to contact me if you decide on Visual Arts) Wish you the best of luck!  

Hi there!  Thank you for responding, I was worried my question wouldn't get any replies :'( My preferred university is NYU, which is actually how I found out about the IB Diploma Programme as it was listed as one of the standardized tests. I was under the impression that IB Diploma would be seen as a higher qualification than IB Certs and I wanted to train myself to be an all-rounder, so I decided on taking the diploma instead. I could be wrong though. Could you explain a little more about how just taking IB courses without the diploma works? Like how many subjects I have to take and if every school offers the option to choose the diploma or the certs.

How are you doing with Visual Arts HL, by the way? Is it tough so far?  

[Guest]

1 hour ago, janegoh said:

Hi there!  Thank you for responding, I was worried my question wouldn't get any replies :'( My preferred university is NYU, which is actually how I found out about the IB Diploma Programme as it was listed as one of the standardized tests. I was under the impression that IB Diploma would be seen as a higher qualification than IB Certs and I wanted to train myself to be an all-rounder, so I decided on taking the diploma instead. I could be wrong though. Could you explain a little more about how just taking IB courses without the diploma works? Like how many subjects I have to take and if every school offers the option to choose the diploma or the certs.

How are you doing with Visual Arts HL, by the way? Is it tough so far?  

I think most schools allow you take that option, maybe you could check with your Australian school, they might let you take some IB courses and the rest can be whatever they have, there is a domestic Australian high school curriculum, that is probably accepted by any university, you'd just have to maybe take the SAT, that is a requirement for most American universities. IB courses is basically, you don't have to write an EE, take ToK, or do CAS (This one in some schools is still a requirement, but not as intensive as the Diploma CAS), and you can take as few or as many courses as you want, you can have 1-2 HLs, and 3-4 SLs, or any combination, depending on what your school offers. This would work excellently with a combination of IB courses, SATs/ACT + TOEFL/IELTS (I think if you take English A TOEFL or IELTS isn't necessary), and the normal Australian curriculum or classes your school offers, maybe send them an email about this? I think most schools have them, most can't exactly force their students to do the Full Diploma, in most English speaking countries (Canada,USA,Australia) most students just take some courses they want in conjunction with their local curriculum  

P.S I'm only starting next week actually, but i'll be starting earlier than you, so I'll be ahead in the class as our system here is August-June not January-December, feel free to ask me any questions (Preferably 1-2 months from now, maybe I'll be already working on stuff by then) if you need to. I think because Australia is only a few hours ahead of China timewise, you can ask me and i'll probably answer soon