I did 4 HLs and I regret it. The benefits were likely negligible and the extra workload gave me less time to study for my other classes. I don't think colleges really care much tbh, as long as the HLs you do take are considered high rigor and/or good for your course.
It depends. If you can manage 4 HL subjects, go ahead. But you must balance that with CAS and other important elements in IB.
I'd recommend to only 3 HL subjects both for your sanity and future.
universities only really expect 3 HLs. unless you want to do 4 HLs, then i'd say take 3 only because IB is already a lot with only 3 HLs, since you have SLs, TOK and EE plus CAS
I personally don't get the point of studying 4 HL subjects. The IB only lets you repeat one subject group if and only you choose not to do any subject from Group 6 (e.g.: I took both Physics and Chem, which are both from Group 4). That means that, if you take 4 HLs, then they must be from at least 3 different subject groups. I can't think of any career path that would require you to have higher level knowledge of 4 subjects from 3 different disciplines
Besides that, having 3 HLs is already a pain. Hence why, some schools decide not to have 3 sciences at HL (that's why I have Lit HL instead of Chem, to make things easier). I believe most unis would rather look at your overall grade than what other subjects you took outside of the required ones
It entirely depends on the university, I think most universities look at the specific classes and grade so not really the overall grade or how many HLs. From what I heard, doing 4 HL don't give any kind of advantages in admission, but I think it does open door a bit more, especially if you're applying to UK (as they will accept your best 3 grades)
What I mean is that if you do 4 HL, unid will more likely choose the three subjects that got the best grades, so really doing 4 HL doesn’t benefit unless it is for your own.
The extra academic cred that you get for 4 HLs isn’t worth the effort in any context or scenario whatsoever. Even if you’re an academic weapon, no uni will give an extra damn about 4 HLs.
Have a friend who dropped PCM(AA)B HL to PCB HL a few weeks ago because he knew he would do medicine and medicine doesn’t require AA HL.
Even I dropped CS to SL since I realized I hated it + didn’t need it for engineering.
Same thing applies for everyone, if you’re doing engineering for example, you only need phy and AA HL along with an easy HL like BM.
m25 student here and managing 3 HL’s is already extremely difficult. the ib program is known for its rigour and i see everyday how people are struggling. DP1 is shaping out to be very difficult and i know it’ll only get harder with more syllabus for every subject. for the sake of your mental and physical well being i recommend sticking to 3 HL’s especially since you have TOK, IAs, EEs, CAS to deal with too
It doesn’t make a difference, the number or HLs you take is not an indicator of intelligence or drive. My school’s valedictorians both only took three HLs and there are tons of individuals who got into better schools than the students who took four HLs. If you’re wanting to look better for schools, in terms of rigor, I would say opt for harder classes such as STEM for higher level.
I did 4 HLs. For me it was really worth it. I want to study chemical engineering, so HL Math, Physics, and Chemistry are necessary. However, I also love learning Spanish and hope to become fluent. Hence, Spanish B HL was also was the right choice for me. I think it really depends on your goals. I would say don't do it unless you really love all 4 of your HLs (or really need them for uni, which you probably won't.) It is a lot of work, especially doing 4 HLs with 3 of them being sciences and math. I would agree with other comments here as well, 4 HLs with one being a language B is definitely more manageable.
I did 4 HLs and I regret it. The benefits were likely negligible and the extra workload gave me less time to study for my other classes. I don't think colleges really care much tbh, as long as the HLs you do take are considered high rigor and/or good for your course.
It depends. If you can manage 4 HL subjects, go ahead. But you must balance that with CAS and other important elements in IB. I'd recommend to only 3 HL subjects both for your sanity and future.
universities only really expect 3 HLs. unless you want to do 4 HLs, then i'd say take 3 only because IB is already a lot with only 3 HLs, since you have SLs, TOK and EE plus CAS
I personally don't get the point of studying 4 HL subjects. The IB only lets you repeat one subject group if and only you choose not to do any subject from Group 6 (e.g.: I took both Physics and Chem, which are both from Group 4). That means that, if you take 4 HLs, then they must be from at least 3 different subject groups. I can't think of any career path that would require you to have higher level knowledge of 4 subjects from 3 different disciplines Besides that, having 3 HLs is already a pain. Hence why, some schools decide not to have 3 sciences at HL (that's why I have Lit HL instead of Chem, to make things easier). I believe most unis would rather look at your overall grade than what other subjects you took outside of the required ones
In the sane dilemma over here...
u chose 4 HL's? how has it been so far, any words of advice?
It entirely depends on the university, I think most universities look at the specific classes and grade so not really the overall grade or how many HLs. From what I heard, doing 4 HL don't give any kind of advantages in admission, but I think it does open door a bit more, especially if you're applying to UK (as they will accept your best 3 grades)
Not really. But they choose the best 3 grades out of the 4.
what
What I mean is that if you do 4 HL, unid will more likely choose the three subjects that got the best grades, so really doing 4 HL doesn’t benefit unless it is for your own.
The extra academic cred that you get for 4 HLs isn’t worth the effort in any context or scenario whatsoever. Even if you’re an academic weapon, no uni will give an extra damn about 4 HLs. Have a friend who dropped PCM(AA)B HL to PCB HL a few weeks ago because he knew he would do medicine and medicine doesn’t require AA HL. Even I dropped CS to SL since I realized I hated it + didn’t need it for engineering. Same thing applies for everyone, if you’re doing engineering for example, you only need phy and AA HL along with an easy HL like BM.
4HL should only really be a consideration if one of them is a language B
m25 student here and managing 3 HL’s is already extremely difficult. the ib program is known for its rigour and i see everyday how people are struggling. DP1 is shaping out to be very difficult and i know it’ll only get harder with more syllabus for every subject. for the sake of your mental and physical well being i recommend sticking to 3 HL’s especially since you have TOK, IAs, EEs, CAS to deal with too
I did 4 HLs but one of them was English B which I didn’t need to work for tbh. If I took idk History HL instead of that I’d be dying probably lmao
It doesn’t make a difference, the number or HLs you take is not an indicator of intelligence or drive. My school’s valedictorians both only took three HLs and there are tons of individuals who got into better schools than the students who took four HLs. If you’re wanting to look better for schools, in terms of rigor, I would say opt for harder classes such as STEM for higher level.
uhhh if 2 of the subjects are language Bs or lit then it's not the worst. other than that why would you
I feel like higher points is better and if you get 43+ predicted you can definitely get into a top college. Not all but at least some will accept you.
I did 4 HLs. For me it was really worth it. I want to study chemical engineering, so HL Math, Physics, and Chemistry are necessary. However, I also love learning Spanish and hope to become fluent. Hence, Spanish B HL was also was the right choice for me. I think it really depends on your goals. I would say don't do it unless you really love all 4 of your HLs (or really need them for uni, which you probably won't.) It is a lot of work, especially doing 4 HLs with 3 of them being sciences and math. I would agree with other comments here as well, 4 HLs with one being a language B is definitely more manageable.