<p>Son only got 35/45 for his IB diploma.
He did study hard for his 2 years IB but somehow his grades were never outstanding except the subject he truly loves. He has great SAT score and unique EA. Somehow he was accepted by a top 10 university along with few other top 30 universities he has applied for this fall (we are surprised).
Looking at his IB result made us think if let him attend a top 10 school will be too hard for him.
because everyone said US university is easier to get in and harder to graduate.
My question is how challenge an average IB student can be successful/survive in top US Universities.</p>
<p>First of all, a 35 is about the 82 percentile, so well above “average”. (See <a href=“http://www.ibo.org/facts/statbulletin/dpstats/documents/statistical_bulletin_may_2011.pdf[/url]”>500; for stats from 2011.)</p>
<p>Top 10 universities can pick and choose their students and don’t choose students that aren’t academically capable of succeeding there. In order to be accepted, your son must have have had great recommendations from his teachers and school and somehow stood out from the crowd. Congratulations to your son.</p>
<p>Thank you motherbear,</p>
<p>When I see other kids in his school who will go to top 10 colleges all have around 40/45 for their IB diploma. This made me to think how lucky he is but at same time worry about if he could do well.
I think I should stop worry and believe in him.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much as such scores aren’t always destiny once the admitted students are actually in college. </p>
<p>Some lower scoring kids who were admitted to elite schools end up doing very well while conversely, high scoring students who appear destined for greatness end up floundering to graduation with Cs or worse, flunking out. </p>
<p>Moreover, as long as your son has a decent work-ethic, prioritizes academics appropriately, and is proactive about seeking help early for any confusion without being intimidated by other classmates/Profs/TAs…he should be fine.</p>
<p>1) Average globally is 23</p>
<p>2) 40/45 was average at my schoool</p>
<p>3) whom are you comparing your son to?</p>
<p>By the way, you have it backwards for elite American universities. They are very difficult to get into, but very few students fail to graduate. They have tons of support for students who are having difficulties, lots of individualized attention, and most importantly a general student culture of achievement and completion which can sweep along many students who might get distracted elsewhere.</p>
<p>That is different from the majority of American universities. Most of them, especially the larger public universities, admit a high percentage of applicants, and then have something of a sink-or-swim approach, where the most motivated, skilled students succeed brilliantly, but many students fail to graduate or take much longer than they planned to finish. (In some cases that’s because they have to balance education with earning money, too.) </p>
<p>Your son will encounter many students who are “smarter” than he at his university. Almost everyone does, including those with much higher IB scores. He will also learn fairly quickly that “smartness” alone is not the key to success, and that he can use his entire portfolio of intellectual and social skills to achieve what he wants to achieve.</p>
<p>carribean88: Don’t worry about it. Depending on what the top 10 is, IB could potentially make his first year courseload seem very manageable or even easy provided that they take standard intro. courses and such. If they come in and take upperlevels, those may be challenging, as they should, but IB should have prepped him.</p>
<p>Yes he may have gotten a bit of a boost for outside factors, but top 10 colleges don’t accept kids that they don’t think are capable of doing reasonably well (say B or better) except under extraordinary circumstances. As others have said, it’s hard to predict who will do well. Some kids pick courses that they aren’t suited for. (For example my son struggles with Arabic - his other grades are fine, but he needs a language for his major.) I’ve heard numerous cases of kids who were good at math discover that college math (the kind required for majors, not the math you take as a pre-med or engineer) is orders of magnitude harder. Many kids have trouble adjusting to college freedom and party too much, or don’t do the reading without someone nagging them.</p>
<p>But I think you have the saying exactly backwards - it’s hard to get into a top 10 college, but almost everyone who matriculates will graduate and most will get pretty good grades doing so.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from a US IB school where most people score in the 30s. The school doesn’t even try to get the scores into the 40s. Their goal is to have everyone pass – not to have some people get the highest scores possible.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the graduates generally do very well in college. Their IB experience has taught them to manage their time, set priorities, write coherently, and produce work that closely matches a grading rubric – all skills that will serve them well in college.</p>
<p>One thing that your son might watch out for, though, is differences in testing and grading styles between IB and the U.S. education system. For example, in some subjects, U.S. high school or college courses call for greater memorization of facts than IB courses do. Your son might want to ask professors whether exams from previous years are available (they often are), so that he can get an idea of what sorts of questions he will be expected to answer. That will give him a better idea of how to study.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input, it took lots of worry off me.
Really appreciated!</p>
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<p>Amen to that! I recently found out that a relative did poorly on the SAT/ACT, yet got a 3.9 GPA at their state flagship. Then they did poorly on one of the pre-grad exams (MCAT or LSAT or whatever they are called) but graduated right around the top 10% of their class. </p>
<p>OTOH, I knew several kids who did very well on the SATs but are REALLY struggling in college.</p>
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<p>MCAT and LSAT are for medical and law school respectively.</p>
<p>Perhaps the SAT and ACT are the best predictor for other standardized tests like the MCAT, LSAT, and GRE? They do have a weak predictiveness on college grades, but not as much as high school grades do.</p>
<p>The vast, vast majority of US schools don’t have IB programs - it’s very much a small niche thing - and top schools accept plenty of kids who haven’t even heard of IB. Stop worrying.</p>