Switch to 4 HL courses, 2 SL courses during year 2

[Littlebear]

Hi there,

I'm currently finishing my first year in IB with:

HL - History, English Lit & Lang and French.

SL - Biology, Chemistry and Math.

My dilemma: My school only offers these IB courses but I want to pursue something along the lines of engineering in universities such as MIT and Stanford.

I was thinking of taking Math HL with Pamoja, but I do not know if it's worth it. I read on other forums that 4 HL and 2 HL is too much work and will bring my other grades down, but since my current HL subjects have nothing to do with want I want to do in the future, I want to do Math HL.

I'm pretty good at math, but how hard would the switch from Math SL to Math HL be in the middle of the program combined with 3 other HL? Is it worth it?

Thanks in advance

[Vighnesh]

I feel that the switch from Math SL to HL will be quite overwhelming for you or for that matter, anyone, but, I think that it may still be doable if you work during the vacations. Furthermore, for engineering, physics is almost always a prerequisite, but it is possible to take bridge courses after IB.

Also, yes, 4HL and 2SL is doable but I don't see a real need for it.

[kw0573]

For MIT and Stanford, it's vital that you have an outstanding essay in addition to good grades. Yeah your current course combination is not competitive because SL is often lower than your provincial standards. Basically if you get a 7 in Math HL and have good scores (mostly 6s and 7s)  in other subjects, your chances into MIT becomes marginally better but much better for other universities. HL goes about twice as fast as SL so you should spend most of the summer to learn and master all of HL year 1 content not covered in SL. Obviously HL is not impossible when a quarter of all IB students worldwide take it. My graduating class had 70 students and about 60 of us took Math at HL. To apply for engineering, you may want to take either a summer school physics and/or SAP Physics Subject test (all multiple choice). With a provincial physics credit and a 6 or 7 in Math HL you should be able to get into at least one of Canada's top engineering program and maybe a couple in the United States. US and Canada engineering schools do not really place an emphasis to overall scores as long as it's over 34-35 (out of 45) ish, unlike the UK. As far as I know, it is very difficult to get into any engineering school without physics. 

History and Math HL are two of the most difficult HL so you may want to preview a lot of your Year 2 material this summer, as well. 

[Littlebear]

3 hours ago, kw0573 said:

For MIT and Stanford, it's vital that you have an outstanding essay in addition to good grades. Yeah your current course combination is not competitive because SL is often lower than your provincial standards. Basically if you get a 7 in Math HL and have good scores (mostly 6s and 7s)  in other subjects, your chances into MIT becomes marginally better but much better for other universities. HL goes about twice as fast as SL so you should spend most of the summer to learn and master all of HL year 1 content not covered in SL. Obviously HL is not impossible when a quarter of all IB students worldwide take it. My graduating class had 70 students and about 60 of us took Math at HL. To apply for engineering, you may want to take either a summer school physics and/or SAP Physics Subject test (all multiple choice). With a provincial physics credit and a 6 or 7 in Math HL you should be able to get into at least one of Canada's top engineering program and maybe a couple in the United States. US and Canada engineering schools do not really place an emphasis to overall scores as long as it's over 34-35 (out of 45) ish, unlike the UK. As far as I know, it is very difficult to get into any engineering school without physics. 

History and Math HL are two of the most difficult HL so you may want to preview a lot of your Year 2 material this summer, as well. 

Thank you so much! You've convinced me; I'm going to transfer to Math HL. (Side note: I've actually done Physics 11 and 12 already, and I'm planning to do the Physics SAT Subject test in the summer.)

[kw0573]

4 minutes ago, Littlebear said:

Thank you so much! You've convinced me; I'm going to transfer to Math HL. (Side note: I've actually done Physics 11 and 12 already, and I'm planning to do the Physics SAT Subject test in the summer.)

It's nice that you have done Physics. I am not sure if Pamoja allows transfer from SL to HL before Year 2 so just double check if it's ok. Also self-learning will be more difficult than learning in a classroom. I don't want to get your hopes up too soon. It will take a lot of self-motivation and self-discipline. Wish you best of luck!