<p>I'm in my second semester of community college in the US now, and I've been thinking about transferring/applying to undergrad in the UK. I've read the other comm. college threads in the same vein, but I also did the International Baccalaureate program (IB), which on websites I've seen coverts straight to UCAS tariffs (and could someone explain that, please?).</p>
<p>Are my changes of acceptance good or bad or neutral, and how will community college affect my application? My high school grades were bad, but I have 31 points on my IB diploma and a high GPA at my community college. What will they look at? Will my chances change if I stick out the third and fourth semesters at my community college and take an Associate's degree?</p>
<p>I know that would depend on what I was applying to study–ex, if I had a bunch of history/English credits when I finished my associate’s degree and wanted a bachelor’s, then I would probably apply to transfer. Otherwise, I’d want to start from scratch, but if I was applying to start from scratch, would they look at my comm. college grades, or just the high school ones? That’s part of my problem/question.</p>
<p>if you start from scratch your entry will be determined by your high school grades. From what I know, one can apply using high school grades or a bachelor degree equivalent or higher (which means that an associate’s degree is ineligible). Anyway, note that, in contrast to the US, UK universities have minimum entry requirements, meaning that you need a certain high school score to get in. If you want to go to “top” universities, the general IB entry requirements are a minimum of 36 (including UCL, Imperial, LSE etc.) Oxbridge is 38 minimum btw. It highly depends on where you want to go, but if you were planning to go to a top university here it is, I’m sorry to say, impossible. Note: will you be funding yourself for the entirety of your UK attendance? UK universities do not provide financial aid to Internationals outside of the EU. I think you may be better off going to an American university though you could try to the UK, I’m not here to discourage you.</p>
<p>I would tend to agree, as far as I know your credits probably would not be transferable (although it may be worth emailing a few unis to ask) in which case you would apply to start the 3 year undergrad through UCAS. As AlexSon said your IB grades will restrict you here, it does not use a tariff system anymore (because it was considered to give the IB too much credit) instead each uni will have specific minimum requirements.</p>
<p>I know, though, that I wouldn’t stand a chance of getting into a “top” school–just like I wouldn’t be able to get into an Ivy here in the US–but what about other schools?</p>
<p>AlexSon, I have family and friends in the UK (also Americans, though, so none of them went through the UK school system) who would make it easier for me to go and live there for three years before applying. I think that’s how long it takes to get away from the “international” label, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Well yes, you won’t get into Oxbridge if that’s what you’re alluding to… but also, unfortunately with the huge upsurge in recent years in applications, entrance requirements have gone up correspondingly. In many cases where a uni would have required 35 for a certain course 2/3 years ago they will now ask for 36/37 because there are so many people applying for the same places. </p>
<p>With 31 in the IB; your choices will be severely limited… So much so that I would question whether the universities you would be applying for would be worth the international fees you will be paying. Unless you have your heart absolutely set on a UK education, it may be better if you can transfer using your College credits in the US?</p>
<p>Yeah oscarUK is right. Entry requirements have gone up significantly. I remember my sibling applying to a course at a university which I shall not name for privacy reasons and the entry requirement then (3 years ago) was IB 32. I took a look at the prospectus this year and it has gone up to 35 so it is getting much more competitive. Of course, with the increase in tuition fees application numbers will go down, but I doubt that the entry requirements will go down with it. An IB31 is fairly limited in the UK.</p>
<p>In regards to your “international” status, you virtually will always considered to be international. To be considered as a “home” student, you need to be either British or a citizen from another country in the EEA. Only then does the “3 years prior” rule apply. Even if one is from the EU, they would still need to have lived more than half of his/her life in the EU to be considered as a “home” student (I had to go through the same dreadful process). </p>
<p>I think you would be much better off in the US to be fair. Even if you went to the UK for university, you’d probably need to return to the US for employment considering that very few companies employ graduate international students. I’m sorry if this has discouraged you.</p>