Was invited for interview for IBEA
Good luck everyone! Also, just curious how many slots they were interviewing in the different programs.
IBEA’s interview signup poll shows 14 responses, so I’m guessing 15-20 people were invited
How did you find out if you were accepted or not? Was it an email or a physical letter? I applied for IBCE.
It was via email, and not too long after the interview.
has anyone heard yet?
Was anybody accepted to IBCE? We should start a Facebook group!
Did anybody else hear back about IBEA? Would love to get in touch before school starts!
Isn’t it too hard to do Honors and IB and do cohort program? How do you fulfill all requirements while you are away?
@websensation Being in the honors program gives incoming freshmen additional options, smaller classes, etc. I would not necessarily consider this as an extra burden, or more difficult. There are two routes in the IB program. Both require study abroad. In my mind, the cohort program is easier in some ways because that year abroad is spent with other students at USC and with students who are in the country they are visiting. They don’t have to to navigate a new system by themselves, find housing etc. They have others who are going through the same process and also people in that country who are in the cohort program. They can help each other. In addition, there are special classes set up in the cohort countries to satisfy the requirements that everyone takes together. The biggest issue I heard students express about the program was satisfying the foreign language requirement: they just couldn’t learn German, or Chinese or whatever. That could be my small sample size. All students in the cohort program are in IB and I would guess that nearly all are also in Honors. USC also provides Honors counselors and a cohort counselor who they meet with regularly and who will help keep them on track. There are a lot of requirements, but I don’t think it is especially difficult.
My daughter was interested in foreign affairs and that is what she focused on in her applications. She considered USC IB, in part because that is an excellent route into graduate school in foreign affairs, if she decides that is what she wants. If her plans change, she has the IB degree and can pursue a business career or she can pursue foreign affairs with her IB degree. In my mind, it seemed the best possible situation. The IB degree requires an additional major and it is not uncommon for students to pursue even a third major while in the IB program (it only takes an additional course or two). The cohort program provides another opportunity to get into IB if you were not accepted into IB initially. The cohort program is a separate application process and if you are accepted, you are accepted into IB. There are two deadlines, and if you don’t get accepted in the first round (deadline Feb 1), you can reapply (March 1). Also, you can apply to more than one program at the same time and the (phone) interviews are with the different people who head the different programs, so this can increase your chances. Also, there are a set number of slots, but they do not need to fill those slots. They are quite selective, but I don’t know the criteria. It really seems to depend on intangibles. Here is a link to the application process.
DO NOT DO THE COHORTS. Gamble on normal IB, that is much better as an option.
The person above me does not know what her daughter is into. It doesn’t end well, the whole process is very frustrating and hard on students and parents because the counselors are no good, and the program is not designed well.
@IBCEBATCH6 Do you think that is true of all of the cohorts or just one in particular. My Dd is in the process of finishing her CIFA cohort app. She is already fluent in French, so having to attempt to master the language in 2 yrs is not a worry. (I read that was an issue with the Mandarin students.)
Is there any addressing of student concerns? Are they attempting to support cohort students at all? (Goodness, the application is far from simple. You’d think the filtering they are achieving just through the application would equate to a top notch program on the other side.)
(Feel free to PM me if you don’t want to discuss it publicly.)
@Gora14 Does your D know any upper classman in the cohort programs? Has she heard the same grumblings? I had read some not so good stuff about the IBCE cohort similar to what @IBCEBATCH6 wrote. (The negatives focused around poor language skill development and horrible situation for the abroad studies.)
The programs are so new. Finding reviews for the programs is difficult (CIFA just started this yr if I understand correctly.) Is there really no attempt to build relationships amg the cohort group and no additional mentoring for the abroad portion of the program involved? Are they accepted into the cohort, but then when they arrive on campus, there is no connection to the other cohort students? Are they even aware of who the other cohort students are?
I am not overly concerned about the abroad portion for CIFA. D’s French tutor is a recent French immigrant and she and her dh are familiar with the CIFA university in France and d’s French is already at a high level. But I did have an incorrect image of the cohort students knowing each other and building a sense of “class” prior to their yr abroad taking all their courses in French.
@IBCEBATCH6 Thanks for the perspective. I’m extremely curious about this as you would expect. I did a fair amount of reading, including student blogs. While I did hear some grumblings, other reports were glowing. I would find it surprising that there would be less support for the cohort program, which is emphasized strongly by the IB program, over the traditional program that has the student going abroad with no support whatsoever. The cohort program has been emphasized in many of the reviews and is being emulated by other universities. It seems strange that it would suffer from such neglect, but I have witnessed stranger things.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I hardly hear from my daughter during the school year. Over Christmas break we had some discussions. She knows all the other cohort students, but that information was not provided. Before she started she inquired of the school but she was told the university could not provide that information due to confidentiality. The students tracked each other down. They know each other and they do interact, but the program hasn’t really started yet. I know she is coordinating some courses with other students in the program in preparation for the year abroad. Some cohort programs are underrepresented, like the MENA program, for obvious reasons. Other students have dropped out, but the reasons appear to have nothing to do with the program (of course, I asked). She is still quite enthusiastic about the program if that means anything.
@Gora14 Thanks for the info. I asked whether they’d move MENA and did not receive a firm response. I like the cohort idea, but it doesn’t sound like it’s fully developed yet. My D is interested in their IB program, but we decided against applying to the cohort because MENA is a no go for me. If she attends USC, she’ll just choose her own study abroad programs.
Thanks @Gora14. I am glad your d is still enthusiastic about the program. Is she in IBCE? How did the students track each other down? Through language classes? Did you expect them to have some sort of formal connection with each other through the cohort? While I can understand them not giving out that information, I am surprised there isn’t something like a 1 credit hr class “intro to” type connection where students can get to know each other.
My Dd is very interested in thisnprogram, but she would also like additional lang and abroad experience beyond France bc she wants to continue studying Russian. She really needs to understand if she enters with enough gen ed credits and foreign language if it is possible to pursue more.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek They tracked each other down through social media (of course). They are much better informed about things than I ever was. Although I expected them to have something more formal about the program, I realize it is not necessary. The students connect up on their own, and they do get guidance to keep them on track. Also, one thing that they mentioned at orientation is that on average, students change their major between 3 and 5 times before getting their degree. I think giving such an orientation to a freshman about a program that doesn’t formally begin for over a year would be a waste of time for the many students who change their mind. Incidentally, there are a few student travel blogs here.
http://moore.sc.edu/academicprograms/undergraduate/majorsoffered/internationalbusiness/incrediblestudents.aspx
Some are in the cohort program as I recall, most are not.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I do want to clarify that my D has only been accepted into the program. No activities have actually occurred yet. IBCEBATCH6 appears to have much more intimate knowledge of the program and appears to have had an experience that was not ideal. Whether this was isolated individually or as part of that particular cohort is impossible for me to say. My impression is that the different cohorts do have different coordinators and I would expect the amount of support may vary depending on the dedication of the coordinator. I do remember reading glowing reviews about the IBA program, so it does not seem universal. My advice always is to apply. You can always change your mind later. If you don’t apply, then the opportunity is lost. As far as the requirements for admission, I think they are lenient. They actually do not require you to have any foreign language going in.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek @Gora14
This goes for anyone considering IBCE or the International Business Chinese Enterprise program.
Here is a miniature flow chart.
Do you have a rich family and connections which will help you land a position at a huge investment bank?
If the answer to that question is yes, do this program, otherwise, DON’T DO IT.
The program provides you no additional benefits to further your career or improve your chances at landing a job. If you think this program will help you get a backdoor into the USC IB program, you are right, it does, but you need to value the costs. Think about this:
Your first year, you are allowed to do what you want at USC, get involved in clubs, join a fraternity or sorority, make friends, and maybe meet the love of your young life. None of any of these things will matter or do anything if you stay in IBCE. After the first year, you get one month off to pack and they ship you to Hong Kong to start taking Chinese classes. You do nothing but Chinese for two months. I wish I could say this strongly improved my Chinese skills, but it didn’t. (I will get back to this.) You get one more month off, if you are lucky, and then you begin classes. You have to take 2 Chinese classes per semester, which allows you significantly less time than your peers to take the necessary course work to graduate. Oh, and those Chinese classes you take don’t actually count towards anything, other than satisfaction for your power hungry advisors. Ok, so you get done with the year and you get six weeks off, and then have to take a mandatory program in Taiwan, which is nothing special and is a thousand dollars, and a month of your time. If you weren’t in this program, you could take this time for an internship.
Now you are back at USC for your third year… Remember that stuff you did Freshman year? Good, because you are the only one. No one else cares. Many of your friends are highly unlikely to remember you because you are coming back after not seeing them for a year and now have very little in common. Many of the clubs you were in barely have a spot for you because they expect continuity. You have nothing. During this time, you will apply to internships, only to realize you have no experience to speak of because you spent both the summers you would have gained experience “learning Chinese”. Do you think anyone cares about that? Nope. You are a dime in a dozen, they have so many applicants who have also taken Chinese. You want to speak highly of your time in Hong Kong? Well, all you have really done is go to and come back from class and maybe get a tutoring job so you have alcohol money. You don’t got nothing. Now you will go to a second rate internship (UNLESS YOU USE YOUR FAMILY CONNECTIONS TO GET SOMETHING AT A FANCY PLACE.) which won’t offer you a full time position.
Now it’s time for your senior year. All of the places which recruit will be back at USC, but you are in Hong Kong, where you have to the 12-hour time difference, which along with the distance makes it borderline impossible to land any position at all. You are trying to get a job post college so you don’t need to move back in with your parents or mooch off of them to go to graduate school. But you can’t. No one who has looked at your resume is excited to hire you. Yay.
Oh and you know those Chinese skills which would give you distinction? It sucks, because Hong Kong doesn’t speak Putonghua (mandarin). They speak Cantonese, and if you try Mandarin, they ask for English. So you get zero exposure, and nothing to benefit you there. If you were in mainland China for a longer stretch of your education, I would say that would be good, because you are actually immersed in Chinese Language and the people around you are more likely to allow you to utilize the language.
Ok, so now let’s talk about the advisors. They make you sign a contract to keep your GPA above a certain number, and that you understand you will attend the first summer of language classes. After this, they will say you are required to pass the HSK IV or the second “optional summer” is now mandatory. So you know that your future prospects are in danger and you ask them to do something. What do they offer? Drop the program or do as they say. That’s it, that is all. If you don’t drop the program, your future is screwed. If you don’t do this program, you won’t get in to IB which could well be the reason that you came to South Carolina, and you just wasted your opportunity to go to a better opportunity. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Carolina, but with my GPA and SAT scores coming out of high school, I could have gone to better schools with better opportunities with less stress, if I had known.) Congrats. You are screwed. So many people end up dropping anyway in hope they can salvage something out of nothing. That is why the retention rate is close to 20%.
Now you have no job, no great opportunity to land a job, and you are forced to go back and pay more money to USC because they are the only place that will accept you to graduate school. You look back and realize that your huge mistake was doing IBCE. Don’t be that guy, don’t do IBCE.
I wish I could speak to someone who has gotten through this program and didn’t fit criteria one (Family money/connections) and ended up being as successful as the advisors make it sound. Then again, those people would be successful regardless of whether or not they did this program.
Furthermore, much of the information about the courses and the coursework is not provided or deemed controversial because if you knew, you would steer clear, and this program would go down the drain pretty quick. If your daughter is in her first year, please, please PLEASE makes sure she reads every last thing they ask her to sign and keeps photocopies. None of this is a joke, I feel like I have made a horrible life choice, and I am doing my best to prevent anyone else from making the same one. Many students think their seniors drop because they realize they don’t want to go back to Hong Kong for their senior years, but that is one of many reasons. I was delusional and thought I could deal with it, but I am starting to gain more comprehension of my situation and realizing why those people made the choices they did.
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