Why IB Students get such high offers

How does it? At university, you do not have to spend hours of your time volunteering if you don't want to, just to pass. You don't have to study subjects you don't like (yes there will probably be little bits of the degree you don't like, but you're not forced to learn about irrelevant subjects), and referencing is taught from the beginning; you don't need TOK and EE to do well at university essays.

The offer comparisons are not unfair; if you don't want a higher offer, don't take the IB. Surely before committing yourself to the two year programme (which is not the normal route), you'd so some research into what universities ask for and where you'd like to see yourself when you finish? You and the other IB students knew (or should have known) what you were letting yourselves in for when you started, in terms of what universities think of the IB and what the offers are like.

The extended essay prepares you for the longer dissertations you may do at university. The heavier workload helps with time management which is essential in life regardless. There are also a lot of opportunities offered through IB that aren't for those doing A-Levels, at least at my sixth form, hence making it more enticing. My friend said she loved it and is glad she did that rather than A-Levels, she just wished she had been at a different school to do it.

A lot of people don't necessarily want to limit the subjects they take. I didn't do IB, if you had read my post correctly, and I'm glad I didn't. But I guarantee that the average IB student would do a lot better in A-Levels than your average A-Level student would in the IB.

Also, as mentioned above, I agree that they get higher offers due to a lack of evidence of any academic ability or progress between GCSE and applying to university, but sometimes the greater difficulty does need a bit more consideration.

This isn't true.

At all.

IB HLs go into more depth than A Level. Not only do we go into more depth in class, but we also have to read massively around our subjects. I mean, ffs, in English we study FIFTEEN texts word for word, consider contextually etc. In A-Level you do four I believe. In history I have to know pretty much everything that happened in the world during the 20th Century. Not modular things like A-Level. We do literature in French as well as speaking, listening and reading papers. I do SL geography and my teacher said that she thinks the IB course goes into more depth than A Level. I can't really talk for sciences, as I'm humanities.

As well as this, we have to do CAS, TOK and the EE. Offers are basically "hai, pls get A*A*AAA and do 150 hours of extracurriculars and two extra essays thnx" (this is Cambridge - offer of 41 points with 776 at HL, but A*AA for same course).

Because A levels have more depth.

Every IB student whines about how tough & unfair their offers are compared to A levels, and complain that Universities "don't understand".

I think they do understand perfectly by now, as it has been a well known qualification for over 10 years, and they have lots of experience comparing qualifications.

So obviously, the reason that they ask for high offers is because the IB is easier, and doesn't contain a lot of the A level content.

It is not 4 pieces of literature for A-level. There are over 20 poems to learn inside out, and 2 or 3 novels to know inside out as well. A 'text' is the poetry anthology, which contains masses of poetry you need to talk about.

Wow, you do two extra essays. A-level students are always writing essays; A2 literature coursework forces people to do basically the same thing as EE, with the referencing, etc. CAS, TOK and EE do not help you for university;

Firstly, IB HL English is exactly the same and we had to learn 30 odd poems inside out,

Secondly, the EE is a HUGE help to uni life. It's helped me so much in knowing how to reference properly, to convert my arguments properly and be more structured in my writing. It isn't the same as A2 coursework because you've had that prescribed for you. The EE topic is something we choose ourselves and research ourselves and aren't spponfed by a teacher

We can do an EPQ which is exactly the same as EE. Choose a topic, write 5000 words, reference, research, etc. If you couldn't have completed your university essays without EE, you obviously didn't pay much attention in the taught sessions of 'Let's make sure everyone on this course knows how to reference so we don't need to keep telling them they're doing it wrong over the next three years' at university.

Oh come on it's not the same, you don't have to do an EPQ and hardly anyone does, the EE is a requirement and can contribute up to three points in the IB total score, whereas a C in the EPQ isn't as huge a deal next to A*A*A

My uni didn't actually have said sessions and expected us to refer to a style guide, meaning most people lost marks in the first few essays for referencing.

It is not 4 pieces of literature for A-level. There are over 20 poems to learn inside out, and 2 or 3 novels to know inside out as well, each year, so all again for A2 after AS. A 'text' is the poetry anthology, which contains masses of poetry you need to talk about.

Wow, you do two extra essays. A-level students are always writing essays; A2 literature coursework forces people to do basically the same thing as EE, with the referencing, etc. CAS, TOK and EE do not help you for university; at university you do not need to spend hours volunteering at something you don't want to do and/or don't have time for. All referencing is taught from scratch anyway.

Why do you think IB students get higher offers? Surely the likes of Oxbridge are smart enough to have the high IB requirements as opposed to A-levels. It's not like they hate the IB because it's not British so they'll be unfair. The subjects are not in as much depth than A-levels, so higher points are needed to compete with A-level students.

Not only this, but some universities are now admitting students who have completed the IB into second year of university rather than having to do a first year at uni. I think this is very telling.

Again, another reason the IB offers are higher is because you can get 3 bonus points for doing nothing except for write something any A-level student can do. They're not points you get for the required subjects and contribute nothing to your understanding of what you're studying at HL.

The EPQ is rising in popularity and you can just do it anyway if your school doesn't offer it. You get a senior teacher who wouldn't mind marking it and do it off your own back. If people are losing marks for referencing at university then they're not trying hard enough; EE would have helped the, but at university level they should be able to sit down for a couple of hours and learn how to do things properly.

Think the reason is hardly anyone has any idea it even exists never mind what it's like


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I'll quote the rest of your post later.

No they are not. Give me evidence for this and say which universities. This would only happen in Scotland (with A-levels too), because the Scottish curriculum is not as in-depth as A2 levels, so their first year of a four year degree is at A2 level.

The University of San Francisco recognizes the academic challenge and motivation inherent in the IB Diploma Program. Such a program, satisfactorily completed, will virtually guarantee an applicant admission to USF. In addition, the University will grant advanced placement of 10 semester units for each higher level result of 4, 5, 6, or 7. Thus a student with 3 such results will automatically be placed in the second (sophomore) year of the Bachelor's degree program. Where applicable, these results will be applied to the General Education Curriculum (GEC) requirements. Excess credits will be counted as electives towards the Bachelor's degree.

Yes they are.

Ok.



http://www.ibo.org/country/university_info.cfm?university_name=University%20of%20San%20Francisco&current_country=UNITED%20STATES

My IB coordinator emailed me this. I haven't looked into it because I'm not interested in studying abroad, but I know that a girl in the IB forum had an offer where she would go straight into sophomore year.

I think that you misunderstood me.

By a 'text' I mean a poetry anthology, novel or play. We do 15 texts. This includes poetry anthologies, novels and plays that we need to know inside out. So that's 7.5 texts per year.

The two extra essays I was referring to were those of the EE and TOK.

I am always writing essays. Constantly. More essays than my A Level counterparts.

I didn't say that they help you for university. Did I mention that at all? I said that these are included in the offer.

I don't know why they get higher offers. I know that many universities have recently brought down their offers and I heard an interview on the BBC not too long ago with a CEO of a company (I forget which one). He said he would be more likely to hire someone who had completed the IB. I'm sure if you search YouTube you can find the interview. I didn't say it's because they hate the IB because it isn't British... You're creating an argument where there is not one. However, it is unfair. For example, the Cambridge offer for Arts and Sciences is different: A*AA and A*A*A respectively. However, for IB they are both the same at 40-41 and 776 at HL. This does not seem fair to me. I may have misinterpreted it though.

Not only this, but some universities are now admitting students who have completed the IB into second year of university rather than having to do a first year at uni. I think this is very telling.

Again, American degrees are 4 years long for a bachelor's, so it's nothing special to be admitted into the second year; the US AP exams are not as challenging as IB or A-levels. This would never happen in a UK university for a three year bachelor's degree.

Which universities are doing this? The only ones I can imagine that are doing this are the ones where the entire first year is pretty much a rehash of A-Level/IB level content anyway.

For what it's worth, for most science subjects at Oxford those with top A-Level grades in that subject are much more likely to outperform (i.e. get a first) throughout their degree than someone with the top IB score in that subject.

I think it's pretty special.... No it wouldn't happen in the UK because of the nature of the degrees on offer, but I think it's pretty telling nevertheless.


Some foreign universities. I mentioned the University of San Fransisco above.

OK, I didn't know that. I'd be interested in seeing the article or whatever where you got these statistics?

I think it's pretty special.... No it wouldn't happen in the UK because of the nature of the degrees on offer, but I think it's pretty telling nevertheless.


Some foreign universities. I mentioned the University of San Fransisco above.

OK, I didn't know that. I'd be interested in seeing the article or whatever where you got these statistics?

It's actually pretty commonplace for IB and A-level students to be admitted into the second year of a US degree. The American equivalent of A-levels only covers 50-75% of what A-levels do, and the first year of the degree is just going to be what has been learnt and A-level or IB. US universities recognise A-levels as well as the IB; the IB is more known in the US, but any decent US university knows what A-levels are and let people in with them. Even Harvard and Stanford accept A-levels.

Well yes, but A-Level students would get straight into the second year as well because the first year of an American university education starts at a lower level than first year at a British university.

The statistics are my own, since I'm actually doing statistical analysis on a range of topics for the university over the summer.