Rey Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 My school is terribly mismanaged IB-wise. So mismanaged, I have never even heard our teachers say "predicted grades" ever. Like, to the extent that I'm wondering if they even know what they are... And we just had our last mocks this week, but I've got a feeling a few teachers won't have them corrected before the holidays, as we have only a week left until then. So, I don't think I'll be able to complete my applications during the break, especially since I did terrible in two classes, which might lower my overall marks so much that I would be better off applying to my insurance places as first choice and adding something even lower as an extra insurance... The problem is, that we are scheduled to start school again the week of the 15 January deadline, and I feel like that week is not enough time for me to obtain predicted from all teachers (a few of them has zero clue what IB even is, or that some of us will apply to countries with different uni applications than glorious Sweden) and to get my lovely psychology teacher to give me the reference letter I need, of which I have already told her four times and which she keeps on forgetting every time. So, I'm just wondering, how strict is UCAS about these things when it comes to international students? I understand that unis need my materials in time for them to be able to consider my application, but I honestly feel like I might not be able to get all teachers at my school to actually do their jobs in time... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaby Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 If you miss the January 15 deadline, you missed the equal consideration deadline, meaning that universities don't have to look at your application if they don't want to. And, seeing you're from Sweden, you're not an international student, but an EU one, so the same rules apply to you as to UK students. Have you sent your Psychology teacher a reference request through UCAS? Also, ask your teachers to provide predicted grades now, rather than after the break. They might base them off previous mocks or your in-class grades. Also, you've had time since the beginning of the year to get your application together, the fact that you haven't yet will not be looked at favourably by universities. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbortfeld Posted December 29, 2016 Report Share Posted December 29, 2016 (edited) I am confused that you take IB, yet some teachers don't know what IB is? Thats some next level mismanagement right there.. My school is similar in the fact that they dont give 'official' predicted grades until right before the IB exams (which is great for those applying to german unis, which have a deadline of ~October of 2017). Only a few of us wanted to apply in the UK, so we talked to our IB coordinator to write our references and from what I understood, average our past report card grades to arrive at our predicted grades (this is a garbage system). I don't think you necessarily need a reference from your Psych teacher, if she isn't being cxoorperative, email your headmaster or IB Coordinator asking them to arrange it for you. Consider emailing all your teachers to get into contact with your (then decided) referee ASAP. In the end, your personal statement and reference are what can really help you! Definately email like crazy these next two weeks beacuse it's better to apply with the grades you have, than miss the deadline due to horrible school management.. Edited December 29, 2016 by nbortfeld Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted December 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Yeah, it's pretty bad, mostly because the school management is trying to kill IB at our school. Since I started here two years ago, three teachers left. One of them never got replaced, the other two got replaced by teachers used to the national curriculum. And, the one we got in math isn't even a math teacher, but a chemistry teacher, which is a subject my school never offered in the IB and still doesn't, despite lying to applicants each year that they did... But, at the moment, it looks like I managed to get all my predicteds, sans History. However, my history teacher is the last person at this school whom I trust. So if he said, he'd have my predicted the day we start school again, then he will. I haven't elaborated on it, but according to "school policy", our years head teacher "has" to do the references, who happens to be my Psych teacher. I'm SL and I'm not applying to anything related, so it's pretty dumb. But it's only the coordinators personal favorites she writes the references for, and I'm not one of them apparently. However when I asked her about all of this, she said it was school policy and that the head of my year Psych teacher had to do it. When I told the said psych teacher of this, her literal answer was "what the ****? That's a new policy." But she's too scared of our coordinator to not do it now. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted December 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Also, I study in Sweden, but I'm not an EU national, nor is anyone in my immediate family, so I assumed I'd be considered as international student. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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