Does MIT want IBDP students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My crappy school system didn't have anything advanced like IP or AP. But I took the hardest courses available to me and got in.

Went to different high schools. One offered more higher placement courses the other one didn't at the high school. But in both, students took courses at the local community college or state university. This was decades ago when AP course were around but no student was taking anywhere near 10+ APs, maybe like 2 or 3, one because of limited availability and it just wasn't a thing to do "back then."

[Anonymous]

It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

There's not 8 stem ap exams, at least not without overlapping significant content

Bio
Chem
Physics C (i am not counting meh and e&m twice...)
Calc bc (i am not counting ab and bc twice!!)
Cs A (again... not counting twice)
Enviro
Stats

That's seven, and two of them are weak, one semester college courses

You theoretically take both bio and chem HL but the problem with IB is that the HL courses take two years while AP takes one.

[Anonymous]

MIT does have something to offer other than stem!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

You don't unless you plan to major in it. If a college doesn't want you because you don't have it, it's the college's loss frankly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

You don't unless you plan to major in it. If a college doesn't want you because you don't have it, it's the college's loss frankly

What, four years of a language? Many middle schools offer 2 years of language now. So that's only two more years in the high school schedule.

You may be able to leverage that into satisfying the college language requirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

You don't unless you plan to major in it. If a college doesn't want you because you don't have it, it's the college's loss frankly

What, four years of a language? Many middle schools offer 2 years of language now. So that's only two more years in the high school schedule.

You may be able to leverage that into satisfying the college language requirement

PP was probably talking about four years IN high school, not 2-3 years in MS and a another year or two in HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

There's not 8 stem ap exams, at least not without overlapping significant content

Bio
Chem
Physics C (i am not counting meh and e&m twice...)
Calc bc (i am not counting ab and bc twice!!)
Cs A (again... not counting twice)
Enviro
Stats

That's seven, and two of them are weak, one semester college courses

You theoretically take both bio and chem HL but the problem with IB is that the HL courses take two years while AP takes one.

AP Physics C should account for two, they get different credit at most colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

MIT recommends two years of foreign language in high school, so IB is at a disadvantage since it requires four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

MIT recommends two years of foreign language in high school, so IB is at a disadvantage since it requires four years.

you are implying that taking four years of a language would be a disadvantage applying to MIT?

Check your middle schools, they may teach 1-2 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

MIT recommends two years of foreign language in high school, so IB is at a disadvantage since it requires four years.

you are implying that taking four years of a language would be a disadvantage applying to MIT?

Check your middle schools, they may teach 1-2 years

I made it clear it’s two years of foreign language in high school.

It’s the opportunity cost, instead of two years of foreign language, one could take stem classes instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

MIT recommends two years of foreign language in high school, so IB is at a disadvantage since it requires four years.

you are implying that taking four years of a language would be a disadvantage applying to MIT?

Check your middle schools, they may teach 1-2 years

I made it clear it’s two years of foreign language in high school.

It’s the opportunity cost, instead of two years of foreign language, one could take stem classes instead.

doesnt MIT say they want students to take the most rigorous courses available? If their school offers four years of a language or even AP, why Wouldn't MIT expect that even though their bare minimum is 2 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that MIT doesn’t want them, it’s they are not a great fit. IB is more centered on humanities.

If math and science are done at HL level in IB, that’s still only two stem classes. MIT applicants take AP calculus and statistics and often math dual enrollment classes, plus 3-4 AP science classes. Meanwhile IB students take Theory of knowledge, CAS stuff, and classes that don’t move the needle much at MIT: foreign language, art, social sciences etc.

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

And yet we see questions on here all the time asking if you really need 4 years of foreign languages and the answer is often that you should try. And my DD is an IB DP program and does not need to take an art class. She has enough room in her schedule to take 2 science courses + her math class.

MIT recommends two years of foreign language in high school, so IB is at a disadvantage since it requires four years.

you are implying that taking four years of a language would be a disadvantage applying to MIT?

Check your middle schools, they may teach 1-2 years

I made it clear it’s two years of foreign language in high school.

It’s the opportunity cost, instead of two years of foreign language, one could take stem classes instead.

Plenty of students do both language and stem. What about Humanities at MIT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s hard to be competitive from IBDP when AP students take 8-10 stem exams alone, and get their results early to add to the application. Probably the same for Caltech or other competitive stem colleges.

There's not 8 stem ap exams, at least not without overlapping significant content

Bio
Chem
Physics C (i am not counting meh and e&m twice...)
Calc bc (i am not counting ab and bc twice!!)
Cs A (again... not counting twice)
Enviro
Stats

That's seven, and two of them are weak, one semester college courses

You theoretically take both bio and chem HL but the problem with IB is that the HL courses take two years while AP takes one.

Who is counting and what do they count? It’s not like if you took AP Physics 1, and follow up with Physics C, the less rigorous course gets discarded from the transcript. It still helps with the GPA and the strength of schedule.

Considering college credit, Calculus BC is equivalent to two semesters, while Statistics is only one. Both CS classes and Environmental are equivalent to one semester, while Chem and Bio are equivalent to two semesters, imo that’s the real measure.

There are 13 AP exams in math and science, it’s not that rare for MIT aspirants to take 8-10, and many enroll in dual enrollment classes in addition to those.

The point is that for AP students there are numerous opportunities to take rigorous classes early and challenge themselves. So what if there’s some overlap and some are easier than others? They still are better than honors or the SL versions that the IB kid takes.