I decided to put this into the ‘non traditional’ section although I have always attended a school and have never been homeschooled or anything…but I AM non traditional in a way, because I have moved around 3 countries in the last ~7 years of my life. I am in grade 10 right now, and have attended schools in the US, Canada, and currently attending an uberexpensive private school in Korea that’s doing IB (my ethnicity is Korean). Anyway, the reason why I’m so worried is because I was doing so well in the US and Canada but my grades have PLUMMETED…so much that I’m on the verge of flunking some classes…and I’m just trying to make sense of this all. I will work hard, and I will get my old grades back until junior year. My question is, however, how much will this…steep declination point in my gr.10 GPA weigh in? I WAS aiming for the Ivies like Dartmouth and Cornell, but…now I don’t even know if I can go to college. What happens for extreme cases like these?
I would ask the international forum to get advice from students who are completing IBs.
A few generic comments. First, at least for more savvy colleges that deal with a lot of international students, they will be somewhat aware of the profile of your international IB. Meaning, they will have some clue about grade inflation or grade deflation. However, I can’t say if they will have detailed stats about your specific school in Korea or not.
If you turn it around and have a stellar junior year (such as straight As) then I think adcoms would be able to see there was an adjustment period.
Also, since you’ve moved around a lot internationally, I would think your SAT score would be extremely important as a method to determine what you’ve been learning in those schools as compared to students in the USA. If you do poorly on your SAT, that will be very problematic.
I have no clue your chances for an Ivy school. You don’t have your junior grades yet or a SAT score. You don’t mention other ECs. These schools, and elite schools, look at the entire package. Any way you slice it, you must have good grades your junior year to be viable at an Ivy.
Options if things don’t go well include transferring after 2 years at a college you can get into. Basically moving up step by step. Might not get you into an Ivy, but can take a not-so-great start and get to a college that you really do feel matches many of your interests and needs.