should i concentrate on going to the US or the IB?

[anuskina]

Im starting to think it was a mistake to do the ib diploma, but now that ive started it it would be silly to drop it.

the thing is that i wanna do economics but i dont know if in the us or europe. now i have to choose between taking the sat and spend time studying and applying to some us universities or concentrate in my ib predicted grades and hope i get admited into lse or some other good college in europe.

so, what do you think i should do?

[Forester]

they go hand in hand.

doing badly in the IB won't get you into the US unis as a large part of admissions is school grades.

Furthermore, LSE is one of the best economics unis in the world and you only need 38+ for a good chance

whereas US unis are harder to predict, even if you get 40+ or 42+, there is still only a small chance that you will get admitted into a uni such as Stanford.

[IBStuck]

they do go hand in hand, forester is right. i live in the US, and i had to IB and the ACT/SATs I and II (although i never ended up taking the SAT IIs) predicted scores weren't a big deal though for me coz i had no conditions to getting into my uni. to get into a US school though you need more thatn good grades. you have to show leadership, that you are a well-rounded student, and that you particpate. US school want more than smarts, but they think that that is important too.

[thatgirl]

Don't drop it now, it's probably too late and it won't help if you mess it up either.

[anuskina]

do european universities care that much about leadership and all ?

any idea of which colleges are the best in economics and international relations?

[mashya]

universities in the US will never see your IB scores.. (apps are due in November.. and IB tests are in May)

[auron]

I hope your joking. I'm doing both - IB and hoping to go to US. But if you say they'll never see my IB scores?! AHHH!! What have I been doing all this time?!

AURON

[IBStuck]

they will see your IB score eventually, but they won't see it until after they accept you, and that is if you choose to send the score tot he university. a lot of US unis will give you college credit for scoring well on an IB exam. you should tell t eh uni in the US that you are an IB diploma canidate becasue it shows you are taking the hardest possible courses that the school offeres. it is good to do IB.. you are not wasting any time or effeort. IB does play a part in US admissions but the size of that part varies form school to school.

it also helps fpr scholarships sometimes too.

[Xerox]

I might wanna study in the US, depending on how i do, but i think you can focus on both, IB grades are not wasted when aplying to the US, and even so you learn a lot which will help your SAT tests, IB teaches you to take test (at least if you school is good and i would consider mine to be atleast)

[Bexx25]

universities in the US will never see your IB scores.. (apps are due in November.. and IB tests are in May)

I'm pretty sure you have to send final transcripts and they do end up seeing those scores. I'm applying to GA tech in the US and some of your scores on the IB exams determine if you will be able to take Calculus right away or go through pre calc. IB is as useful as you make it. they do see those scores....

[deissi]

do european universities care that much about leadership and all ?

any idea of which colleges are the best in economics and international relations?

First of all, not that much, no. They care about grades . The best colleges in the UK for Econ and IR would probably be LSE and Oxford.

Forester: sure, you might only need 38 (if you get a good offer), but remember that for Economics at LSE you do need a 7 in HL Math. Something that isn't too easy to get, you know?

[hamani]

I would have to agree with a past comment. They do go hand in hand. Take my situation for example. Until now, I was not sure of whether to go to the USA or Europe for university, so what I did was did the SAT. By the way, just a question, are there many schools out there that do a dual diploma programme, The american diploma and IB?

Anyway, whatever you choose, I hope your comfortable with it. Continue on IB, it is worth it in the end. I hope.

[IBStuck]

I'm pretty sure you have to send final transcripts and they do end up seeing those scores. I'm applying to GA tech in the US and some of your scores on the IB exams determine if you will be able to take Calculus right away or go through pre calc. IB is as useful as you make it. they do see those scores....

if you have two diplmomas (see quote below) you don't have to, but if you only have the IB diploma you would have to send your transcripts. i actually diddn't have to send my uni my IB transcript if i din't want to.

I would have to agree with a past comment. They do go hand in hand. Take my situation for example. Until now, I was not sure of whether to go to the USA or Europe for university, so what I did was did the SAT. By the way, just a question, are there many schools out there that do a dual diploma programme, The american diploma and IB?

Anyway, whatever you choose, I hope your comfortable with it. Continue on IB, it is worth it in the end. I hope.

ithink you did a good thing with taking the SAT too... if you are not sure (i wasn't so i took both the ACT and the SAT) just take the test. it was about 40 USD if i rember correctly (it has been two years since i took them) and you can take them as amny times as you want. so you can keep working unitl you get that score you want. iahd a friend who took all the exams from the first one when she was in grade 7 to the last one she could take her last year of high school.

there are a quite a few school in the US that do that, but i really only know for Florida and missouri, but i am sure it is is simialra throughout the US. therre are a lot of requierments for both diplomas, and it is really hard to do the simulaneouley. in Florida you just have to meet the requierments for the IB diploma and you will recieve both diplomas, but in missouri they are sepeerate, so you have to meet all of the criteria for both... which mind you was a lot of busy work in my non-IB classes commming form a school where i olny had to do the IB requieremnts, and never took a class other than AP or IB.

[cereja]

In Texas, we need to get the IB diploma and take the different classes for the Texas diploma (which sucks).

It all depends on where you want to go in the US. IB is still growing (AP is much more popular) so some universities don't really take the credit hours for your IB scores. It'll help you get in, but it won't get you any real credit. Also, you don't need a specific score (38, 40...) to get in (to most of them).

Example -

UTD (one of the best engineering schools in the US) - they give you 24 credits if you get the diploma. Then, depending on whether you get a 4, 5, 6, or 7 in a specific exam, you may get up to 12 credit hours (about 3-4 classes) for that subject. And you need at least a 1200 on your combined reading/math SAT.

MIT (self explanatory) - only take in consideration HL credit for a 7 and sometimes for a 6.

So my advice to you is - concentrate mainly on IB. Then you have to research where you want to go, then concentrate there.

But as already mentioned, US unis care more if you're well rounded than if you have good grades. A valedictorian may not get in, but someone who was in the top % who also did volunteering in Latin America and plays an instrument will get in instead.