No idea how IB works to apply US universities [HELP needed]

International Students
1

Hi, I am an international student taking full-IB diploma in another country (not the states). Having not experienced education system in another country (have started to speak English for 3 years lol), I could not get best score. Also, my English skill isn’t great…so I am really worried about my application.

I am looking forward to apply to US universities very soon through RD but I have really no idea which university is safe, and reach.
We do not have any GPA systems at all, and I cannot convert IB scores to GPA because there is no official conversion system. (However I heard that 7=A+ 6=A- 5=B)

My transcript(predicted) scores are:
Math HL: 6(6,7? not sure because I have one more test to go)
Econ HL: 6(6?)
English B HL: 5(5?)
Biology SL: 6(7?)
Chemistry SL: 5(5)
Korean A SL 6(6? not sure because I have one more test to go)
EE: econ
Predicted Aggregate score: 36~38/45
(Reason that I am taking two science but both are SL is that I was taking chem HL but it was rlly hard for me to do that so I dropped down to SL)

My grade is actually improving so it may impress to the application? (I was getting Cs when I was in Korea but my grade suddenly boosts up or sth, well, I guess Korean education system is quite undervalued)

My SAT score:
Jan 2017: 1270(570Reading and writing, 700 for math)
I will take Nov SAT2 and Dec SAT1

Extra curriculars: Futsal captain, football team top scorer, various sport activities experiences (badminton, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, jump rope and taekwondo) - all participated competitions (actually got several 1st places in the city for some sport), did some football/sport blog(stopped at Y10) and started to set up business for sport (can’t specify it). I have dig sport activities, so my extra curriculars are not that strong though…

Well actually joined to do some competitions related to business and economics, but not that successful.
Services: community services… that’s all I have. some free tutoring service to other students and some fundraising.

My dream schools are Upenn, UC berkely, UCLA, and NYU

I know it is really tough to get admitted into those universities…but I want to know to what extent it is possible for me to get admitted. I also have planned to apply ED2 for NYU stern. Can anyone please gimme advice… or can you guys gimme which uni may be suitable for me to apply?

P.s.: Can I apply final IB grades to US universities? If the final score is really high (like 40+), is my chance to admission to those universities higher? wonder whether some people are doing this kind of thing. If can, I will apply to universities with final scores.

Thank you!

2

Have you taken the TOEFL and if so what is your score? Can you afford to be full pay in the US (perhaps between $240,000 and $280,000 for four years)?

The good news is that admissions at US universities will be familiar with the IB. The bad news is that most of us on CC are not and won’t be able to guess your chances at US universities.

3

Haven’t taken yet. I will take it a week later.

I don’t think so, but my family income is annual 11k USD+ not sure…

4

Same situation here, I’m also not quite sure how the IB predicted grades work in the process. Someone said that the schools take the percentage equivalent and turn everything into GPA, but the actual school admissions website said they would evaluate grades on its own standards. Do you know where to find competitive IBDP score for specific schools? Sites like Prepscholar has stats for GPA but not predicted IB grades.

5

If your annual family income is around US$ 11k, you will need a huge amount of financial aid. You need to go back to your college list, and make certain that. They do offer scholarships to international students, and that the scholarships can be large enough to meet your needs.

6

UCLA’s international admissions pages says:

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

UCLA does not award scholarships or financial aid to undergraduate students who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States. International students must prove that they have sufficient funds available to them to pay for their educational and living expenses. For example, students admitted to Fall Quarter 2016 will need a minimum of about $60,000 (with an additional $5,000 recommended for additional personal expenses, contingencies and summer expenses). This minimum amount usually grows each year.

That’s per year

7

You need a great deal of financial aid since I assume your family cannot pay the costs of an American college: those costs the costs can be as much as $70,000+ per year. Without adequate funding, you will not even get a student visa into the US.

Forget about Berkeley and UCLA. They are public schools which do NOT offer financial aid to international students. NYU may also be a waste of your time: it is notorious for not offering much financial aid even to American students.

There are only a few schools which will admit you without taking into consideration that you need financial aid (“need blind” schools) AND which will guarantee financial aid high enough for you to attend. These schools - among them Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Amhers – are ELITE colleges that are extremely difficult to get into. Right now your SATs seem too low, many of the competing students have math scores in the high 700s and much higher reading/writing scores.)

Another option is to apply to lesser known schools where your stats place you in the highest percentages of incoming first-year students.

Read the International Students threads, and the Financial Aid/Scholarship thread on this site for ideas where to apply. Good luck – and have a back up plan in your home country: it’s very tough for international students to get enough financial aid to study in the US.

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