Do US universities check IB scores?

[Astario]

Hello,

as an international applicant to a few US universities, I was wondering if anyone knows whether they check the IB scores, and whether getting lower scores than the predicted one may result in losing one's offer of admission or having one's financial aid package rescinded/reduced.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

[Award Winning Boss]

... what's the point of doing the IB if they didn't check your IB score?

I think for US you get unconditional offers which means it doesn't really matter what score you get in the end. If it's conditional however then your admission is dependent on whether you achieve the score they ask you to get.

[Andyboi]

Yes the above poster is more or less correct, in the US, IB and AP are mostly used to determine credits. So for instance if you take HL History, and you receive above a 5 on your HL History exam then you don't have to take History 101 or some class beginner history class. (This is just an example, every university has its own methods of awarding credit, some require above a 5, some require above a 4, etc.) Some universities will even let you skip a whole year if you do well enough in your subjects! But as a rule of thumb, US universities will look at your GPA and SAT/ACT scores more than your IB scores.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Mrs.Stein

[krusader]

From what I hear IB marks in most U.S university won't get any special attention. Some universities do cater to the IB students though.

Some of my family is studying in U.S as international students. The tuition rates are higher for international students, and there are few financial aid to international students, as most are restricted to U.S citizens. For the international student, it become even more difficult to support yourself financially since there are work restrictions on when, where and how much you can work (therefore how much you get paid).

[Sandwich]

But as a rule of thumb, US universities will look at your GPA and SAT/ACT scores more than your IB scores.

The thing is that outside of the US, people don't have a GPA or any kind of mark that reflects on their homework or effort made in lessons. Just final exam grades (and obviously any coursework components of those exam grades). So it's whether that this means they'd look at your SAT scores alone (assuming that taking these is compulsory) or whether they'd transition their attention onto your IB scores.

[Astario]

Well, I personally attend an international school that is somewhat oriented around the US educational system, which means that we do have GPA, class ranking and most of us take the SATs.

Thank you very much for your answers, everyone!