Skipping a year at university?

[Amber]

How many of you are planning to skip a year at university?

[JMR]

How is it possible to skip a year at uni?

[Amber]

Because the HL courses you take are the first year university courses. I donno, that is the system we have here.

[__inthemaking]

I would strongly recommend against doing that unless you know for a fact that what IB covered is what's covered in those first year courses.

I took chem HL and my first year chem classes (I'm in second year of uni now) covered new material that wasn't in chem HL. And first year chem is the basis for second year biochemistry, organic chemistry, etc. so if I had skipped first year chem, I would be lost in my upper year courses.

[masochist]

I would strongly recommend against doing that unless you know for a fact that what IB covered is what's covered in those first year courses.

I took chem HL and my first year chem classes (I'm in second year of uni now) covered new material that wasn't in chem HL. And first year chem is the basis for second year biochemistry, organic chemistry, etc. so if I had skipped first year chem, I would be lost in my upper year courses.

Oh wow really? I always thought that first year courses covered material that we had already covered in IB. Where are you going to University atm?

[__inthemaking]

I would strongly recommend against doing that unless you know for a fact that what IB covered is what's covered in those first year courses.

I took chem HL and my first year chem classes (I'm in second year of uni now) covered new material that wasn't in chem HL. And first year chem is the basis for second year biochemistry, organic chemistry, etc. so if I had skipped first year chem, I would be lost in my upper year courses.

Oh wow really? I always thought that first year courses covered material that we had already covered in IB. Where are you going to University atm?

Health sciences at McMaster University.

I took the transfer credits for econ and English HL though, because I wasn't planning on ever taking those courses again..but if you're going into science, I would recommend taking first year chem and bio because even if most of it is review and you already know it, if anything, it gets you used to the format/pacing of lectures, tests, labs, etc. However, if you're going into social sciences/humanities, then obviously go right ahead and take a chem HL credit. Basically if you're going to be building upon that subject in upper years, I would suggest taking it.

[Amber]

I am not gonna skip, i just wanted to hear everyone opinions! Personally, I don't think skipping is the better option.

[greaterthaninfinity]

Like the majority here, I don't think it's wise to skip courses that are actually relevant to your major. I'll be the first one to tell anyone that foundation is extremely important. Coming into IB from a pretty mediocre junior high school, I got the short end of the stick adjusting at first. So, don't go through any shortcuts.

[JMR]

So basically skipping is only possible in North America? You cant do a 2 years bachelor in the UK right?

[Sandwich]

So basically skipping is only possible in North America? You cant do a 2 years bachelor in the UK right?

Nope, you can't. I'm assuming it's because there is a very different set-up in N. America with people taking "pure" subjects still, like at school, whereas in the UK whatever you do will be part of your course straight away. So possibly you'll use aspects of IB courses where they do brief refreshers on theory so they can be sure everybody is already on the same page, but the vast majority of the knowledge you learn in year 1 is more advanced than the IB course, unless you're on a remedial or foundation course of some kind. Basically year 1 isn't at all equivalent to your IB courses (otherwise it seems to me there'd kinda be no point in requiring everybody to do IB/A Levels before going to Uni!), so you can't use one to skip the other, and nor does the concept of credits exist. All in all, you can't skip things on the back of your IB grades because what you'd be skipping contains brand new material you've never seen before!

[Amber]

My coordinater was talking about it and all, so I just wanted to know, btw is there anyone who has actuallu tried it?

[Austin Glau]

There are some programs that might let you do that, maybe some transition school or some advanced program. But i would imagine most colleges wouldn't accept that, certinaly not the scholary ones i've investigated, like Harvard, BYU, Oxford, ect. maybe even UDUB

[wombat123]

Mcgill seems to almost insist that IB students do not retake first year courses....you don't get any credit for the ones you take and that are already credited for in you diploma. Does anyone here know if they're worth taking anyway?

[elmar]

While it's not the best option for some students, it is the most affordable. I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but in North America, we pay separately per each course we take. So, if you decide to take 5 courses in one semester, and they're each around $200 each, that adds up to 1 000. I know some students have opted out of their first year classes in order to not only avoid paying those ridiculous fees, but also to gain sophomore standing, so in their first year of college, they're not considered "first years" by the university.