IB Courses for Pre-med?

[areldi]

Hello everyone!

I'm a sophomore about to start the IB Diploma Program and I'm really conflicted on what courses to take. I want to pick the ones that will help me the most when applying to get into a pre-med program (possibly at UVA.) Currently the classes I am definitely taking are:

English 11 HL
Theory of Knowledge 1
History of the Americas HL
Mathematics SL
French V
Biology SL/HL (two years)

I have a choice between taking Chemistry SL in my junior year then Physics SL in my senior year, or taking two years of Chemistry but it will be HL in senior year. I have gotten a lot of different feedback: some people say that it's better to take two years of Chemistry so I can be able to take it at HL. However, others say that it's better to take one year of Chemistry SL and then one year of Physics SL (since Physics is a core class of pre-med.) If I could get any advice on this it would be greatly appreciated!

FYI: If you are unfamiliar with the IB program, basically HL means "higher level" while SL means "standard level." Obviously HL will look better to colleges but if I take Chemistry HL, I will not have room to take Physics, but if I take Physics and Chemistry at SL, I won't be able to take the higher level Chemistry. Hopefully that makes sense. 🙂

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[flapjack3d]

I did IB and did well. very good prep for the MCAT and critical thinking skills required. best courses IMO were history and chemistry. Math HL would probably be good too but didn't take it. I did all the sciences at HL + english HL, then math, language, and history at SL.

Biology HL is a waste of time. Do not do it. Take chemistry HL.

 

[areldi]

I did IB and did well. very good prep for the MCAT and critical thinking skills required. best courses IMO were history and chemistry. Math HL would probably be good too but didn't take it. I did all the sciences at HL + english HL, then math, language, and history at SL.

Biology HL is a waste of time. Do not do it. Take chemistry HL.

Mathematics SL is the highest DP math class my school offers, unfortunately, but I will take AP Calculus BC in senior year since I'll have an open slot.

It's very interesting that you say Biology is useless - that's the first time I've heard that! Why do you say that? I thought that Bio was the best course for students looking to go into pre-med. I looked up some pre-med requirements for colleges and all of them seem to include biology.

 

[flapjack3d]

Mathematics SL is the highest DP math class my school offers, unfortunately, but I will take AP Calculus BC in senior year since I'll have an open slot.

It's very interesting that you say Biology is useless - that's the first time I've heard that! Why do you say that? I thought that Bio was the best course for students looking to go into pre-med. I looked up some pre-med requirements for colleges and all of them seem to include biology.

yes you will have to take biology, but at this level it is just memorization. anything you learn in HL bio you will forget after the test. memorize and reguritate. that's generally the pattern until 3 or 4th year of an undergrad major in biology. chemistry and physics are skills worth developing. the way you'll learn to think in those classes will benefit you hugely in undergrad and on the mcat. oh and just for your sanity in the future--- i think IB is about as hard as the pre-reqs for the MCAT. I feel like i was actually better prepared for the mcat after IB than after my first two years of college. i scored well on both the mcat and IB, for reference.

 

[areldi]

yes you will have to take biology, but at this level it is just memorization. anything you learn in HL bio you will forget after the test. memorize and reguritate. that's generally the pattern until 3 or 4th year of an undergrad major in biology. chemistry and physics are skills worth developing. the way you'll learn to think in those classes will benefit you hugely in undergrad and on the mcat. oh and just for your sanity in the future--- i think IB is about as hard as the pre-reqs for the MCAT. I feel like i was actually better prepared for the mcat after IB than after my first two years of college. i scored well on both the mcat and IB, for reference.

Thanks for the advice, I asked my Chemistry teacher and she told me that Chemistry was useful for medicine as well so I went with HL Chem and Physics SL for next year.

Do you know if psychology is useful? I'm more interested in becoming a surgeon than something like a psychiatrist.

 

[caiziwei]

I think physics HL is better for your critical thinking. It almost covers all the physical concepts you need to know in universities. If you are also interested in biology you can basically learn it by yourself.


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