Should Universities Give Preferences to IBs?

[NA19]

Hi. My name is Nikita Arora and I live in Ontario. For my personal project, I am convincing universities from Ontario to give preferences to IBs. If you are in IB, which presuming that you are on this website, you should be =), please take the time to fill this survey out: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229FLNUSRY6

Thank you.

Edited July 21, 2009 by NA19
Don't post email addresses.

[Bishup]

I disagree Universities should not give preference to IB since it's an alternative to your national curriculum. It's your choice whether or not you choose it. However IB is accepted in quite a few countries abroad. So if you're looking to go to University abroad it might be a good idea to consider IB. Another reason I chose to do IB instead of A levels is because A levels don't offer two subjects that I want to take.

[moneyfaery]

I swear univs already give preference to IBs in Ontario, esp with the conversion scale. The top academic scholarships are usually snatched up by IB students because of this. More preference is just unnecessary.

Edit: I clicked on the survey and it asked me to open a .zgi file... what is this?? Should it not be a link or some sort to a webpage?

Edited July 1, 2009 by Irene

[~Lc~]

same, it's not a link. I'm thinking it might be a virus for all I know so I advise no one to download it until the OP clarifies why it's not a website link.

Also I don't think there should be preference for the IB. Students taking IB get a range of grades which reflect their abilities like any other educational system, and whether or not a student makes it into higher education should rely on their preformance as it does...

[NA19]

Hi. I apologize for copying the wrong URL for my survey before. I have edited the post, and it will now lead you to the proper webpage where you can click on "start survey." Don't worry, it's not a virus!

Thanks.

[NA19]

Hi all,

I would just like to clarify. Ontario universities do not give preferences to IBs as I emailed about 15 of them to ask them this specific question. Thanks for you support. I really appreciate it.

Nikita

[Abu]

Of course they're not going to admit that they give IB preference!

[Forester]

Australian ENTER rips IB apart especially at the high end of the scale.

[powa2]

Universities should examine each applicant holistically, just because the person did IB does not mean the person is always well rounded.

[godofib]

But as an IB student, we do a lot of more work (even though we get rewarded for it by conversion scale) that is more university like. So, I just think that while universities are reviewing your application, they should be aware that you were an IB student and hence have done things such as CAS (involvement in community), EE etc.

[NA19]

But as an IB student, we do a lot of more work (even though we get rewarded for it by conversion scale) that is more university like. So, I just think that while universities are reviewing your application, they should be aware that you were an IB student and hence have done things such as CAS (involvement in community), EE etc.

I agree. All of the IBs I know are very involved in extracurriculars because IB really emphasises that as well. I think it would be easier to handle the heavy courseloads in addition to living alone, and all the other responsibilities that students have to handle when entering university if you're already used to juggling so many things at one time. Universities should probably recognize this more.

[sweetnsimple786]

I don't think that universities should favor IB. Two reasons:

1) What about the kids who don't have access to IB schools? Why put them at a further disadvantage because of socioeconomic status or simple geography??

2) Yeah, we do CAS. It's compulsory. What does that mean? IB forces students to do extracirriculars! It's a win-win for us anyways. It's not like colleges don't acknowledge the hours we count as CAS. How would they even know if we started a club because we wanted CAS hours and not because of 'initiave' [not saying this is my case ]

Edit: grammar thing! haha

Edited July 17, 2009 by sweetnsimple786

[Feist]

I think that, in a way, universities do give preference to IB students because the IB curriculum pushes us to not only challenge ourselves academically, but forces us to be involved in extra-curriculars and volunteer hours which is what universities are looking for anyway. I don't necessarily think that universities should give instant preference to IB students but at the same time they should not completely void it.

Obviously there are some schools that do not have the IB curriculum because it is costly to maintain. However, I think that universities may want to analyze those who have IB at their school but aren't taking it. Of course it is a personal choice and most people do not want to put themselves through such a rigorous program, but if two students who go to the same school have the same average but one has IB, I think that the IB student should get preference in a way because they are taking the harder courses and thus their average, in a sense, is higher in value.

[sweetnsimple786]

Obviously there are some schools that do not have the IB curriculum because it is costly to maintain. However, I think that universities may want to analyze those who have IB at their school but aren't taking it. Of course it is a personal choice and most people do not want to put themselves through such a rigorous program, but if two students who go to the same school have the same average but one has IB, I think that the IB student should get preference in a way because they are taking the harder courses and thus their average, in a sense, is higher in value.

I know most US unis do that. They don't want to see your GPA or what classes you've taken. They want to see that information side by side the courses your school offers.

I've seen students get into MIT/Harvard who haven't taken a single AP [Advanced Placement--analogous to IB certificate, I guess] class because their schools didn't offer them. It was harder to stand out, obviously. Kudos.

[biochem]

Thanks for taking our survey!

IB should definitely be a qualified credit for colleges. It should be based on individuals, seeing as how our HLs are different. My choice of university doesn't make a preference over HL or SL classes, and I think they should. MY HLs give me plenty more work then the normal SL students.

But in some schools they say 777 in all your HL - and sometimes they can be a bit much. A 6 should be fine in those cases.

anyway, I feel like not enough universities give credit. And then there are are some what will give u 2 grand just for attending their school.

Its such a wonderful experience that teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know. I feel like I will be the top 5% at my college that get an A in Organic Chem with just working day in and out.

[Tilia]

Well, if you're applying to Swedish universities, it's a disadvantage to be an IB-student at the moments.

I think universities should recognise the depth of the courses taken, instead of just giving the IB preference merely because we're IB. In Sweden, the highest level national students can study is equivalent to SL, but we're not given credits for our HLs when we apply.

[moneyfaery]

I would just like to clarify. Ontario universities do not give preferences to IBs as I emailed about 15 of them to ask them this specific question. Thanks for you support. I really appreciate it.

The system is designed in a way to give preference to IBs, as it is muchhhhh easier to achieve a 98/99% in a course in IB than in regular academic classes. Like I said, more preference is not necessary.

Besides, IB students are not "better" than non-IBs in any way, except perhaps their ability to procrastinate and pull all-nighters.

Edit:

But as an IB student, we do a lot of more work (even though we get rewarded for it by conversion scale) that is more university like. So, I just think that while universities are reviewing your application, they should be aware that you were an IB student and hence have done things such as CAS (involvement in community), EE etc.

Honestly, if you're a Canadian student applying to a Canadian university, your chances of getting in are like, 99% if you have a decent average (exception: extremely selective programs like Health Sci @ Mac). I know for a fact OUAC does have the option of stating whether you're IB Dipl, Cert, or regular academic, so it is taken into account. It just doesn't matter much.

Edited July 17, 2009 by Irene

[Mr. Shiver]

Yeah, this is all really amusing for me. Have you looked at our Ontario conversions? They're ridiculously generous.

Don't bother with the campaign in Ontario, I'd say. It'll only make us look bad.

[__inthemaking]

Yeah, this is all really amusing for me. Have you looked at our Ontario conversions? They're ridiculously generous.

Don't bother with the campaign in Ontario, I'd say. It'll only make us look bad.

^ I agree with this.

It's actually easier to get 90s in IB than it is in academic. I got 100% in bio, 99% in math, 99% in chem, 98% in econ etc all because of my translated marks from my IB results. If I was in academic then I never would've gotten that high.

Basically if you're a decent IB student in Ontario, your translated marks will already give you an advantage.

[Sandwich]

All this preference stuff is making me quite jealous, as we in the UK receive no such thing. Actually often it counts against us as many people don't realise exactly what the IB entails! Sucks, rather.

Anything which translated into being 100% is just ... wow! I can't imagine getting that high on any exam. Is the normal Ontario qualification really easy enough that people can achieve 100%?