Hi everybody,
So for the last hours or so I have been searching and searching and NO WHERE could I find an answer to my question: Do the final IB scores contribute to chances of admission at American universities?
I know for a fact that the predictions (obviously along with the SAT’s and extra curricular acitvites) play a huge role in U.S admission, but do the universities take the actual final score into consideration at all?
Any answers are greatly appreciated,
Thanks!!!
Where do you go to high school? For students in IB programs in the US, typically they also receive letter grades which are considered by colleges, and the senior year IB scores have no impact at all. My understanding is that it may be different for international students who don’t have senior year grades other than predicted IB scores. Also, don’t assume that the same approach is taken at all U.S. universities.
Hi Hunt,
I’m a German International student currently living in Shanghai, China. What are these ‘letter grades’ you’re talking about? I’m pretty sure my school doesn’t do that. All we get at the end of our junior year are our predictions. We take our final exams during our senior year (although we will probably already have been heard back from colleges by then), which is why it’s so confusing. Why bother with the IB if nly the predictions count? Couldn’t one just tell the teachers they’re applying to U.S universities and then just manipulate them in that sense?
OP, what I don’t know is whether any US universities offer conditional admission based on the predicted scores, and then require you to achieve certain actual scores in order to enroll. I’ve never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean that none of them do this. You should ask this question directly to the admissions office of any US school in which you are interested.
In the US, students in IB programs typically also get grades (usually every semester) from the school itself, and these are what colleges primarily consider, and what are used for a grade point average (GPA). The IB scores don’t play much of a role. My kids were in IB, and I don’t think any of their colleges even asked for predicted or final IB scores from senior year. But they had other grades, which may not be the case for international applicants.
consti06, It seems to me that the only way your final IB scores would impact admissions to a US college would be if you were to take a gap year and apply after your scores are received.
My son’s international high school (in Asia) issued letter grades. Even though he was a candidate for the IB diploma at the time that he applied, I don’t remember submitting predicted scores.
Your GPA would be the most significant factor in admissions. If you don’t have a GPA, then I guess your predicted IB scores would be the equivalent. Have other students from your school attended American colleges? Perhaps you could ask your counselor how your academic standing is reported.
Scores – either SAT, ACT or IB – are important factors in admissions to top schools, but not more so than academic performance and class rank. Extracurriculars, essays, recommendations and supplemental materials are also considered seriously.
Many US colleges will give course credit or advancement based on IB scores, so your effort won’t be wasted.
@consti06, I know exactly what you mean. My son’s IB school, also in Asia, does not issue letter grades. Until this point, we have seen nothing but predicted scores. There is no GPA. There are no courses other than IB courses and no letter grades. Academic performance and class rank is not separate from the final performance on the IB exams next month. I asked about that on another thread, and I was astounded to find out that in the US, IB students could even manage to not take the IB exam! At our school, that would mean failing all two years. I’d thought the IB was the same program everywhere, but it absolutely is not.
The reason the answers above may not seem to “compute” for you is that in the US, and apparently at some international schools, IB is treated like AP in the US – e.g. there is a grade awarded by the school that takes precedence, and the exam is a kind of supplement that you can take or not, as you please. Sort of like a feather in your cap. It gets you college credit, which is nice, but it has nothing to do with grades or class rank or academic performance.
That’s not the case for us, and I’m guessing for the majority of IB schools in the world outside the US. (I wish it was. It’s honestly frustrating that all of the class discussions, journals, homework, etc. don’t seem to get counted in any way, except presumably for letters of recommendation.)
Several of my S’s classmates have been admitted this year to US schools, and there would have been no possible way for them to submit anything but predicted scores, because nothing else exists. I haven’t asked, but I have assumed the admission is conditional. (If not, then they’re lucky ducks and maybe S should have applied this year rather than planning a gap year. I would very much like him to be admitted based only on his predicted scores, thank you very much. It would sure take pressure off of exam month 
)
After saying all that – which I hope at least clarifies the confusion – I’m afraid I don’t have an answer except to echo what was said above. You should ask your school’s college adviser, and also ask kids from your school who have gone to college in the States. It’s possible that it was treated differently at different colleges and it was conditional in some places and not in others. I have no idea. It’s weird how differently IB is done around the world when it’s supposedly an “international” program, though, isn’t it?!?
In the US IB exams are often optional because American students receive grades during their studies, plus often take AP exams, SAT/SATII/ACT exams plus whatever state graduation exams (for example, the Regents exam in NY state) might be required. So universities have plenty of other evidence showing students’ accomplishments and skills.
I attend an international school in Ukraine and students in IB get two grades a school grade in GPA and an IB grade.