Breaking into IB

I am currently in year 13 doing a level biology chemistry and math and I am willing to take a gap year and sit an extra alevel and prepare for any admission tests my stats are A*A*A predicteds and 9888887765 I am wondering if it will be best to take further math alevel in my gap year or economics I am also open to doing 2 but I highly doubt i can do well in both And how would i go about doing this after my exams in june I have 2 offers for chemical engineering and 1 offer for economics (Loughborough) which i plan on declining because its not a target school

Reply 1

pagan-scimitar

What are you applying for and where?

Reply 2

username!98

Original post by pagan-scimitar

What are you applying for and where?

I am debating between math or economics and dont know what alevel to choose to do in my gap year and i want to apply for a target uni

Reply 3

pagan-scimitar

Original post by username!98

I am debating between math or economics and dont know what alevel to choose to do in my gap year and i want to apply for a target uni

I don't know much about IB target unis, but from what I've googled the target unis Oxbridge/LSE/UCL/Imperial/Warwick and semi-targets are Kings/Durham/Bristol/Bath/Manchester etc. (correct me if I'm wrong cuz this is what I'm basing my answer on)

For econ you probably don't need any extra A levels, except for Cambridge/LSE where FM basically a requirement. You don't need econ A level to do econ at uni, although obviously most people have done it. Ik someone who got a UCL econ offer this year with your exact combination so it's possible there at least. The most important thing will a good TMUA (for Cambridge/LSE/Imperial/UCL/Warwick, ideally above a 4), a good personal statement (ik the London unis place great weight on the ps, especially LSE), and an A* in maths A level (so if you're working at A*A*A make sure one of the A* is in maths).

Idk much about maths admissions, but you'd defo need FM to study maths at IB target unis.

Reply 4

Rusho

Original post by username!98

Hi, target unis (Tier 1) are as follows:
LSE, Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial

Strong semi targets (Tier 2) are:
Warwick (possible Tier 1), Durham, Bristol, Nottingham (specifically for their economics dept), St Andrews, Edinburgh, Bath

For the most part, you can take any degree at these unis and be within a reasonable chance of breaking into IB. For the Semi targets, it could be preferable for you to take a Quantitative subject however. At the Targets, you could take English Classics and still have a super high chance of getting in.