Options affects Admission

[Abhishek3]

Hello,

I was wondering if the options I choose in my HL subjects affects my admissions in universities especially USA. For example: I have taken Sets as my option for Math HL, but I was wondering if it affect my admission, because sets is comparatively easy to calculus. Would taking calculus give me an advantage over sets when it comes to applying for colleges?

Thank you,
Abhishek

[Vioh]

I never applied to any US universities, but I am 100% sure that the option that you do for math HL plays no role whatsoever to your college application. In fact, the name of the option is not even written on the final IB diploma that you'll get. And it is rarely mentioned in your school transcript. So it is unlikely that the universities will ever know about it, unless of course you tell them yourself. Anyway, who says that Sets is easier compared to Calculus?

[Abhishek3]

On 3/5/2017 at 11:35 PM, Vioh said:

I never applied to any US universities, but I am 100% sure that the option that you do for math HL plays no role whatsoever to your college application. In fact, the name of the option is not even written on the final IB diploma that you'll get. And it is rarely mentioned in your school transcript. So it is unlikely that the universities will ever know about it, unless of course you tell them yourself. Anyway, who says that Sets is easier compared to Calculus?

I have taken math option calculus and it was very difficult, i changed to sets and it was much easier....many other people have also told the same

[Adastra]

Hello, 

A few weeks ago I was wondering the same thing, and found some helpful answers. First of all, some universities' prerequisities spesifically include Maths with calculus, so you may want to check the websites of schools you plan to apply. If your target school does not mention a calculus requirement, then there is no way taking sets will affect your application.

Your intended major also plays a big role, I would say. That's because your option choice does not affect your college admissions but it can affect your college life. If you want to study engineering, for example, you will use a great deal of calculus and differential equations during college, therefore prior knowledge from high school would help a lot. As you are taking HL Math I'm assuming that you are both interested and gifted in Math, so your option shouldn't really matter. 

I hope this helps.