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@Fithen
0 answers, 8 votes
 • 2 years ago •
Admissions Advice
[edited]

How many IB classes should I put on my profile?

I attend an international school in Europe that uses the International Baccalaureate (IB) system, where we take 6 classes + Theory of Knowledge (a mandatory philosophy class that's has only 1/3 the # weekly sessions and 1/5 the final diploma value as the other six main classes).

My question is about how to reflect this on my CollegeVine profile. When playing around with the simulator and inputting values of 6 or 7, I've found that several of the more prestigious universities' profiles say that my coursework 'needs some improvement'. However, this is out of my hands as our school system dictates we take these 6/7 classes for two years, no more or no less.

I've taken some of the most rigorous of these classes that are available (Higher Level Maths AA, for example), making my coursework as strong as possible. However, the warnings still do pop up sometimes, and never have I gotten an 'excellent' grade.

Perhaps this stems from the input box reading 'AP/IB classes taken'? I don't find this to be a great equivalency — Internet searches tell me that the average # of AP classes taken is eight, and students at very selective universities usually take 7-12 — an impossibility for me.

How can I more accurately reflect the strength of my IB coursework in the engine? Do I just double my number since IB classes are for two years and AP ones for one?

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[🎤 AUTHOR]@Fithen2 years ago [edited]

Figured out the answer by doing some searching in the CollegeVine forums, the answer should be 12. I'll leave this question up in case anyone is thinking about the same issue.

@Chrisjonsona year ago

IB classes you should put on your profile depends on several factors including what type of school you attend and what type of program you are enrolled in. Generally speaking, the International Baccalaureate (IB) requires a minimum of six classes for its diploma program the most popular of which each student must choose at least three from each group with one being an additional essay-writing class.

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@taxi
33 answers, 5 votes
 • 2 years ago

I have recently learnt from a UCLA admissions officer that the IB Diploma is so fundamentally incompatible with the American educational system, and the American notion of courses in particular, that there isn't really a great way to input it at all. I would just put in your 6 main courses at IBs, under the understanding that the results you're gonna get out of the chancing engine will probably be garbage. (Even more so than they are if you filled your profile out the intended way.)

However, understand that actual, human admissions officers have the necessary experience to interpret your IB Diploma performance accurately.

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[🎤 AUTHOR]@Fithen2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to answer, but I ended up putting 12 as was quoted by others on the forum. However, why do you say that the engine is pretty inaccurate even without the IB conversion difficulty? Their internal study seemed to say the opposite, even if you take it with a grain of salt.

@taxi2 years ago

Well that's an internal study... I don't think that shows anything, really. Well, okay, there's clearly a lot of thought put into the way the chancing engine works, but I think it completely fails to account for certain personal and contextual factors which become paramount if you're applying to US T20's (because it is impossible for an algorithm to take such distinctly human factors into account). So, I think for anything far less than a T20 university, you're gonna get a pretty helpful result.

@taxi2 years ago

But for a T20, I don't think the result you're getting is very helpful at all. Especially if you're an IB student.

@taxi2 years ago

For example, CollegeVine gives me a better chance of getting into NYU (a wall street feeder school; pretty far up the US News ranking; campuses in 2 other countries; endless academic opportunities in a massive university) than getting into this place called "Alice Lloyd College" with a median SAT of ~1000 (comp.) and 33% graduation rate. That just cannot be right; there's no way to talk around it.

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