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<p>I'm trying to decide whether I should try to do something safe for the Extended Essay, or just have fun with it and risk getting a C or a D. </p>
<p>Do college admissions care about those 3 extra extended essay/TOK points at all, or just the point values for the specific classes you take?</p>
<p>If schools cared they would ask for it. They don’t.</p>
<p>Many schools, particularly in the UK and even in Canada, often give conditional admission to students, and these are often hinged on the amount of points a diploma candidate will receive. You wouldn’t want to get rejected from a college that offered you conditional admission just because you missed a point that you could’ve gotten from your extended essay.</p>
<p>Also, for students who will be completing the diploma next year, failing ToK or the EE constitutes a failing condition for the diploma. Something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>What are you doing yours on? I’m writing mine on the differences in James Joyce’s perception of male and female consciousness, as seen in Ulysses.</p>
<p>uhm yes and no.</p>
<p>we care about it to get it done, and edit it a few times and make sure that there are no mistakes that can be easily corrected.</p>
<p>But do most of us care about it beyond that? NO. I’ve yet to meet a single person who was totally engrossed in their EE and EE topic to make it one of their best pieces of work.</p>
<p>to correct something said earlier, failing the EE AND the ToK thing is a failing condition. As long as you do both and get a D in either then you can still get the diploma.</p>
<p>Personally, i dont even know what constitutes a “safe” EE (well im doing math so maybe thats why). but for my topic anyways, i just decided to have fun and take a risk and maybe get a C or a D. i might as well remember it if im gonna do it, you know?</p>
<p>Actually, my IB coordinator gave my grade a list of requirements students must meet in order to get the diploma (taken from the “Vade Mecum” released periodically by the IBO), and part of it was:</p>
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<p>Obviously, this only applies for rising seniors, so if you’ve already graduated, there’s nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Like I tell almost everybody on this site, ask the specific schools, not us. But if you can’t even do that: schools in the US don’t usually care, as far as I know.</p>
<p>Also, only 3% were awarded an E in the May 2008 session. You’re not going to fail it unless you’re a complete slacker.</p>
<p>I did mine in Spanish. Lol I’m not a native speaker. I’m in the highest level, but still, can you really fail me for not being a native speaker? It had to at least get a B. I know it didn’t get a failing grade though. You can’t fail a person that doesn’t speak the language at home or anything like that at all unless I wrote “Como estas! Esta es Frida Kahlo. Ella es un pintora. Ella es mucho hermoso. Frida Kahlo gusta pintar. Me gusta pintar tambien.” <— That was horrible, and no, I don’t speak or write Spanish like that. </p>
<p>I’d say w/e you do, just do something you’ll enjoy. I’d rather do a painfully long essay in something I’m somewhat interested in than something I just don’t care about. I doubt college admissions care, BUT doing well on the TOK paper and EE gets you bonus points toward the IB diploma, an incentive I guess you could say. I kind of enjoyed my EE and did my best on it. I still have until January before it gets sent off, so I’ll sit down with my Spanish teacher to edit it (she can only give me a heads up, not actual help).</p>
<p>Well, a student at my school did her extended essay on optics and it became published research. So, it may not directly, but it can impact you elsewhere which can help you get in.</p>
<p>I’m doing Social and Cultural Anthropology for fun! wheee.</p>
<p>I just need a C and I don’t really care because I can still get a 4.0 regardless lol.</p>
<p>^ Lol. That’s the spirit! The EE is so stressful, so at the end of junior year, of course, we all tell the upcoming sophomores that IB gets harder and that they won’t survive at all.</p>
<p>If one uses the extended essay as an opportunity to pursue your intellectual passion in depth and with creativity, the colleges that make decisions based on more than stats would be very impressed. You could let the college know by writing your app essay about your EE experiences or by talking during your interview about your research.</p>
<p>Most students seem to take the easy way out for extended essays. Few do original research such as interviewing people, surveying people, using original documents to research their EE, asking professors and other experts for advice, etc. </p>
<p>Those who do things like this are demonstrating the kind of intellectual passion that would make them stand out in admissions for colleges like HPYS that have such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can pick and choose from among those the ones who’d most contribute to creating a student body of people with intellectual passion and extracurricular involvement.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. I worked my butt off on the EE. I know I’m not a native speaker, but I’m really, really good in Spanish. I skipped 2 years in the language in the IB program. My original topic was 18th century Spanish fashion, but I had no information at all. I ended up doing Frida Kahlo b/c she’s really deep and has a crazy story. I knew that she was like obsessed with her husband and showed her love for him through her art so I went for it. It wasn’t too bad. Stressful but worth it.</p>
<p>Some colleges ask for writing samples for various things, so the extended essay is a great thing to have if you’ve done a good job.</p>
<p>Also, some colleges (I’m thinking of Bryn Mawr) will award sophomore status for completion of the IB diploma and you can’t get the IB diploma unless you at least make an attempt to do a respectable EE.</p>