Uncertain about my future

[El Nino]

Hi guys, this is my first post on IB survival and before I explain my problem I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to this is page. It was extremely helpful for me during my two years of IB.

 

I am writing to ask for advice about what should I do because my situation is kinda strange. I finished IB this year and I scored the maximum 45 points. I always wanted to study economics so I applied this year to study this subject in five universities, Oxford, Kent, LSE, Warwick and Edinburgh; however LSE and Oxford rejected me because my predicted grades were lower than their usual offer. I didn't expect that my IB exams will go so well, and so before I got my results I was determined to meet my conditional offer from Warwick (38 points) in order to study economics in this university.

 

Now, I am not so sure about what shall I do because I always dreamed about studying at LSE or Oxford and now with my score it is possible. On the other side I would have to take a gap year and apply for a place in LSE or Oxford in the next year (maybe I could also apply to universities in USA). Also, they may reject my application again. During the gap year I will probably look for a job, do some volunteering and improve my English so it won't be totally unproductive. It is worth to wait one year to apply to LSE or Oxford or maybe I should go to Warwick? Any help/opinion would be much appreciated.

 

My subjects in IB:

 

Math HL

Literature in Spanish HL

English B HL

Economics SL

Biology SL

Philosophy SL

[Guest Aniruddh]

I'd say take a gap year. From what I hear, IB is very stressful so you'll be able to relax for a while, and stand a chance to go to one of the best universities in the world. You'll also be able to apply for US and have an opportunity to study in one of the most flexible education systems in the world (from what I hear, this may be wrong) in another country.

 

BTW, didn't you apply for Imperial; I've heard it's one of the best schools for Economics..

 

And yeah, congratulations for your perfect score, I myself am having a little bit of trouble with Math HL (permutations and combinations) so got any tips for me and Economics (SL) as well? Our teacher has given us mark schemes from the past papers relevant to the topics we have covered and asked us to refer to them in preference to the book.

 

Congratulations again (hopefully I'll get a perfect score too!),

Aniruddh

Edited August 18, 2014 by Aniruddh

[flinquinnster]

Firstly, congratulations on your IB results, and on smashing past your predicted grades! Whilst this is maybe not that useful in terms of advice, whether you take a gap year or not very much depends on you personally. From what you've written, I reckon that since you seem to have a good, productive plan for your gap year (and that's a great thing, I wish I had planned my inadvertent post-IB break more), then taking that year off and reapplying isn't a bad idea at all!

 

Of course, you risk losing your spot at Warwick - though it is worth contacting them directly to ask if they are willing to guarantee that you can keep your spot if you reapply through UCAS - but given that your final mark is better than your predicted I think you have nothing to lose. Given that you seem really keen on LSE/Oxford, and you have a great score, it seems a shame not to try reapplying. Although they look at more than your final score when determining admissions, of course having that 45 will help. 

 

Applying to some US universities in your gap year sounds like a good plan as well! It's time-consuming, so starting early helps - they're actually due surprisingly soon now. I don't know if you've considered any Spanish universities or places in other countries, but doing applications for those might also take up some time.

 

Best of luck with your decision!

[El Nino]

Thanks for your answer Aniruddh. It will give some thoughts.

 

I didn't apply to Imperial because my school suggested me to apply to 3 "good" universities with higher requirements (LSE and Oxford and Warwick in my case) and 2 universities with lower requirements (Kent and Edinburgh). I decided to apply to Warwick because according to many rankings it was better than Imperial in economics and the university itself appealed more to me.

                                      

For math I can give you the usual tip, do tons of past papers. A good idea is to mark the exercise from the past papers that you couldn't resolve and come back to them a few months later and before the exams because there are always some exercises in the exam that have appeared in the exams from the past years with different numbers. I also recommend you to use the Pearson book to study the optional topic. I did the Calculus option by myself with this book during my Easter holidays, so it is not so difficult and it also helps to understand the core topics. Using the marks schemes in HL math is important but sometimes if you didn't cover very well the theory you will not understand them as they don't explain every step to solve the problem. Permutations and combinations don't appear very often in the latest exams. The most important thing to do well in math hl is the ability to calm down, stress is your biggest enemy and if you feel that it is beating you, then you have to grab a beer and watch a film, go out with your friends or something. Don't panic and everything will go well. Remember that you don't have to do every exercise in your exam, because if you are able to do 7 problems out of 10 in section A and 2 out of 3 in section B, you will probably achieve a seven. Finally, the IA is very important so you have to give it a lot of time (I spent more time on my math IA than on my EE) and find a topic that you will enjoy (I did mine on RSA codes)

 

For Economics I can only recommend you to cover up the theory very well. I resumed all the topics from my book in notes and I studied only them. I only did three or four past papers over the two years because in economics you only have to write with sense, connect the theory you have studied (connect microeconomics with macroeconomics or international trade, for example if you have to speak about the effect of a tax on the agricultural market you can say that it may be very prejudicial for a country if it is heavily involved in the export of agricultural products) and use good examples. I think that the secret of IB economics is to be creative and managing well your time.

 

If you have a problem with economics or math Hl you can email it to me and I will do my best to answer it if I have some spare time ([email protected]). 

Edited August 18, 2014 by El Nino

[El Nino]

Firstly, congratulations on your IB results, and on smashing past your predicted grades! Whilst this is maybe not that useful in terms of advice, whether you take a gap year or not very much depends on you personally. From what you've written, I reckon that since you seem to have a good, productive plan for your gap year (and that's a great thing, I wish I had planned my inadvertent post-IB break more), then taking that year off and reapplying isn't a bad idea at all!

 

Of course, you risk losing your spot at Warwick - though it is worth contacting them directly to ask if they are willing to guarantee that you can keep your spot if you reapply through UCAS - but given that your final mark is better than your predicted I think you have nothing to lose. Given that you seem really keen on LSE/Oxford, and you have a great score, it seems a shame not to try reapplying. Although they look at more than your final score when determining admissions, of course having that 45 will help. 

 

Applying to some US universities in your gap year sounds like a good plan as well! It's time-consuming, so starting early helps - they're actually due surprisingly soon now. I don't know if you've considered any Spanish universities or places in other countries, but doing applications for those might also take up some time.

 

Best of luck with your decision!

Thanks for your answer. I decided not to apply Spanish universities because I am from Poland and I have been living in Spain for too long so I am a bit tired of Spain. This is why I will probably focus myself on applying to UK and Us Universities. 

[Guest Aniruddh]

Thanks for your answer Aniruddh. It will give some thoughts.

 

I didn't apply to Imperial because my school suggested me to apply to 3 "good" universities with higher requirements (LSE and Oxford and Warwick in my case) and 2 universities with lower requirements (Kent and Edinburgh). I decided to apply to Warwick because according to many rankings it was better than Imperial in economics and the university itself appealed more to me.

                                      

For math I can give you the usual tip, do tons of past papers. A good idea is to mark the exercise from the past papers that you couldn't resolve and come back to them a few months later and before the exams because there are always some exercises in the exam that have appeared in the exams from the past years with different numbers. I also recommend you to use the Pearson book to study the optional topic. I did the Calculus option by myself with this book during my Easter holidays, so it is not so difficult and it also helps to understand the core topics. Using the marks schemes in HL math is important but sometimes if you didn't cover very well the theory you will not understand them as they don't explain every step to solve the problem. Permutations and combinations don't appear very often in the latest exams. The most important thing to do well in math hl is the ability to calm down, stress is your biggest enemy and if you feel that it is beating you, then you have to grab a beer and watch a film, go out with your friends or something. Don't panic and everything will go well. Remember that you don't have to do every exercise in your exam, because if you are able to do 7 problems out of 10 in section A and 2 out of 3 in section B, you will probably achieve a seven. Finally, the IA is very important so you have to give it a lot of time (I spent more time on my math IA than on my EE) and find a topic that you will enjoy (I did mine on RSA codes)

 

For Economics I can only recommend you to cover up the theory very well. I resumed all the topics from my book in notes and I studied only them. I only did three or four past papers over the two years because in economics you only have to write with sense, connect the theory you have studied (connect microeconomics with macroeconomics or international trade, for example if you have to speak about the effect of a tax on the agricultural market you can say that it may be very prejudicial for a country if it is heavily involved in the export of agricultural products) and use good examples. I think that the secret of IB economics is to be creative and managing well your time.

 

If you have a problem with economics or math Hl you can email it to me and I will do my best to answer it if I have some spare time. 

Thanks for the tips, they do help. I really don't believe in leaving anything to chance so I'll probably just practice a lot of past papers and hope that I 'get it'

 

Best of luck for your uni applications,

Aniruddh

[yii yann]

Hi guys, this is my first post on IB survival and before I explain my problem I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to this is page. It was extremely helpful for me during my two years of IB.

 

I am writing to ask for advice about what should I do because my situation is kinda strange. I finished IB this year and I scored the maximum 45 points. I always wanted to study economics so I applied this year to study this subject in five universities, Oxford, Kent, LSE, Warwick and Edinburgh; however LSE and Oxford rejected me because my predicted grades were lower than their usual offer. I didn't expect that my IB exams will go so well, and so before I got my results I was determined to meet my conditional offer from Warwick (38 points) in order to study economics in this university.

 

Now, I am not so sure about what shall I do because I always dreamed about studying at LSE or Oxford and now with my score it is possible. On the other side I would have to take a gap year and apply for a place in LSE or Oxford in the next year (maybe I could also apply to universities in USA). Also, they may reject my application again. During the gap year I will probably look for a job, do some volunteering and improve my English so it won't be totally unproductive. It is worth to wait one year to apply to LSE or Oxford or maybe I should go to Warwick? Any help/opinion would be much appreciated.

 

My subjects in IB:

 

Math HL

Literature in Spanish HL

English B HL

Economics SL

Biology SL

Philosophy SL

 

Firstly, congratulations on your score. It is not easy to achieve a 45, much less being predicted a 38 first! 

 

Okay important things to take note of:

 

1) Having a 45 doesn't mean you suddenly rise to the top of the pile on Oxford's metaphorical table. You will be slightly above average (most apply with around 40 - 43 predicted). Your grades, while help in eliminating you from a possible offer, don't do much in actually getting you that offer. So before you decide to apply to Oxford based on the fact that your grades are perfect alone, take a look at the other parts of the Oxford application: PS, reference, entrance test (I think TSA for economics and management?), and interview performance. Are you willing to put time and effort towards really improving in these areas? 

 

2) If your PS and reference are good, then you have a good shot at getting into LSE. 

 

3) Some people say that if you reject a university and reapply, they automatically reject you during the reapplication, or at least view your application negatively. I really, really don't know if there is any truth to this though. 

 

4) Be prepared for rejection. Honestly. You can do everything right and still get rejected for a bs reason, so you have to try not to let it affect you deeply. 

 

5) Consider if your year out will be really worth it. Plan it well, and it can be a great writing point for your ps too!

 

6) If you really want to do it, and are willing to put the required effort, then I would tell you to go for it.