[laila123]

I really need some help in making the right choice ASAP...
Currently, I am finishing 10th grade and by July I need to tell my school about my future plans. The option is to either continue my regular studies in my school (by the way, I go to TIS which is in Tehran) .... or to enter the IB Program. My average this year was a 96% and the teachers said I am qualified to go to IB. However, I don't want to stay here or go to Europe for college. I have always wanted to go back to the US and my dream was to go to Stanford so basically I wanna try any way possible to get into Stanford -- my priority. The Stanford website didn't really give me the information I wanted, so I was wondering if I should continue my regular school in Tehran or if I should go the IB route?
Some people said that Stanford doesn't really care for IB....is that true?
Also, I'm not really sure on what I want to be yet.. I was thinking maybe something in the medical field (like dentistry..pediatrician..pyschol ogist.. etc. ) or business/law. I'm really good at Biology , but I'm kind of mediocre at Chemistry so that's kind of what's preventing me from being 100% towards the medicine field. Also, I'm really into music and if I would want to take music, I couldn't take two sciences.. and I would have to take a 7th course. Is that too demanding? Are 2 sciences even required or can I just take Biology? I'm really looking for some major help!! (

[Aaron_xyz]

What do you mean doesn't care? The IB system is a respected education programme which pretty much all US colleges will accept in their application. Also if Stanford is your dream college, then you should be preparing and revising for the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests.

You should check the Stanford website specifically for Iranian international students though, some UK universities don't accept the high school diplomas which some countries give, and I guess this would be the same for US unis. If Stanford accepts both the IB and the standard diploma offered in Iranian high schools then pick whichever you feel more comfortable with. If Stanford only accepts the IB, then the obvious choice would be to go with IB.

If you're applying to US unis you should also know you don't pick your major until your junior/3rd year.. so you still have plenty of time to decide what your ambitions are.

[logiadoevus]

(Original post by laila123)
I really need some help in making the right choice ASAP...
Currently, I am finishing 10th grade and by July I need to tell my school about my future plans. The option is to either continue my regular studies in my school (by the way, I go to TIS which is in Tehran) .... or to enter the IB Program. My average this year was a 96% and the teachers said I am qualified to go to IB. However, I don't want to stay here or go to Europe for college. I have always wanted to go back to the US and my dream was to go to Stanford so basically I wanna try any way possible to get into Stanford -- my priority. The Stanford website didn't really give me the information I wanted, so I was wondering if I should continue my regular school in Tehran or if I should go the IB route?
Some people said that Stanford doesn't really care for IB....is that true?
Also, I'm not really sure on what I want to be yet.. I was thinking maybe something in the medical field (like dentistry..pediatrician..pyschol ogist.. etc. ) or business/law. I'm really good at Biology , but I'm kind of mediocre at Chemistry so that's kind of what's preventing me from being 100% towards the medicine field. Also, I'm really into music and if I would want to take music, I couldn't take two sciences.. and I would have to take a 7th course. Is that too demanding? Are 2 sciences even required or can I just take Biology? I'm really looking for some major help!! (

Generally speaking, US universities don't care that much for your IB/Iranian equivalent results, as much as they care about your SAT scores. So to be fair, it will not matter that much, probably for their application, however, this does depend on the Iranian education system which I know absolutely nothing about unfortunately. In essence, if it's ok overall (ie. not very easy and bad), it will be fine.

That said, the IB, being a challenging and rigorous qualification with international emphasis, might prepare you better for the whole application process - get you better scores at SAT, make you more confident, and develop other qualities that top US schools like Stanford are looking for. For example, the CAS component of the IB, together with emphasis on creating 'world citizens' (their term, not mine!) is very much what US schools are looking for. This, as you might know, is in stark contrast to UK application process which is very much qualification-focused.

So in essence, my advice would be to do the IB as it's a well-known, rigorous qualification that develops the qualities that Stanford would be looking for. Further supplement this by doing different extracurricular activities (leadership roles, team-working, support, cooperation, sport), as this is important for the US. However, if the Iranian education is good enough, you don't necessarily have to do the IB.

[laila123]

(Original post by Aaron_xyz)
What do you mean doesn't care? The IB system is a respected education programme which pretty much all US colleges will accept in their application. Also if Stanford is your dream college, then you should be preparing and revising for the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests.

You should check the Stanford website specifically for Iranian international students though, some UK universities don't accept the high school diplomas which some countries give, and I guess this would be the same for US unis. If Stanford accepts both the IB and the standard diploma offered in Iranian high schools then pick whichever you feel more comfortable with. If Stanford only accepts the IB, then the obvious choice would be to go with IB.

If you're applying to US unis you should also know you don't pick your major until your junior/3rd year.. so you still have plenty of time to decide what your ambitions are.

Thanks for your reply. The problem is I'm not sure if IB accepts my normal Iranian school because I honestly can't find anything about it on the website! So if we can pick our career that late in college, would it matter if I didn't take some kind of course in IB (for example, economics) .. and I wanted to be in the field of business later on..could I just take that course later on in college? Also, what if in IB, I don't study some specific courses and then material from those courses appears on the SAT?

[laila123]

(Original post by logiadoevus)
Generally speaking, US universities don't care that much for your IB/Iranian equivalent results, as much as they care about your SAT scores. So to be fair, it will not matter that much, probably for their application, however, this does depend on the Iranian education system which I know absolutely nothing about unfortunately. In essence, if it's ok overall (ie. not very easy and bad), it will be fine.

That said, the IB, being a challenging and rigorous qualification with international emphasis, might prepare you better for the whole application process - get you better scores at SAT, make you more confident, and develop other qualities that top US schools like Stanford are looking for. For example, the CAS component of the IB, together with emphasis on creating 'world citizens' (their term, not mine!) is very much what US schools are looking for. This, as you might know, is in stark contrast to UK application process which is very much qualification-focused.

So in essence, my advice would be to do the IB as it's a well-known, rigorous qualification that develops the qualities that Stanford would be looking for. Further supplement this by doing different extracurricular activities (leadership roles, team-working, support, cooperation, sport), as this is important for the US. However, if the Iranian education is good enough, you don't necessarily have to do the IB.

Thanks for your reply. From what I know, the Iranian education system is actually a pretty hard one...it's much harder than my schools in America! But still, I'm not sure if Stanford is going to accept my normal school diploma. So I guess I should just stick with IB.. judging from what you said about extra-curriculurs.. I think taking music in IB would be a good step....any advice on what other classes I can take?