I am an international student in japan whos doing ib. I dont have top grades, but im certain i can raise them up a lot this year and my predicted score as well. So how holistic are they,
Only American university use holistic admissions. In other countries, subpar students can edge their way into top universities via influence.
Is your dad the Japanese Prime Minister, Emperor, or CEO of Toyota?
@GMTplus7 no…then do i not have any chance at all? my gpa is not below average (not too high, not too low)
Do your homework. Your GPA is not what is important for Cambridge. A genuine, demonstrated interest in, and aptitude for, your subject is. Your IB predictions and (for some courses/colleges) submitted work and/or specific tests are.
There is a huge amount of information available- by subject- on the Cambridge website as to what they want from their applicants.
And btw, for Cambridge, I’m not sure that even if your parents were CEOs of Toyota that you would get a place.
If you are not capable of getting high grades at high school, you will fail at Oxbridge. It’s all about exams and focus. It’s pretty stressful. Unless you have an extreme reason (like you have cancer or something) you won’t get in.
Oxford and Cambridge are sooooooo far from hollistic! The extreme opposite. It sounds like you are not very keen on doing any research any way, so they may not be for you.
I’ve just checked and you need and IB score of at least 38 for Oxford, maybe higher depending on the course you apply to.
@cupcake what if i get a 38 as my predicted scores this semester, despite that i’ve gotten average grades in the past?
If all your past grades are poor, I think it is unlikely you will get an interview unless you have some extreme reason. If you truly believe you can achieve a 38, achieve it and then apply post-qualification. You’d be more likely to get an interview then. A lot of UK students take a year out anyway, so this won’t make you any older than average if you start at age 19 or 20.
@cupcake i got a 34 last year, is that considered poor? hopefully i can raise it up to a 38.
Why don’t you try to raise your grades more then see things from there. But I do believe that there are supportive organizations which actually guides interested students in situations like yours
I believe Cambridge considers a lot when it comes to international studies. Being that they are one of the top of mind universities when it comes to that aspect. Are you planning on directly enrolling there or applying under a third party organization?
@chajen16 There is no guarantee of admission to Cambridge or Oxford. Both universities are very selective for international students. The acceptance rate for internationals is 8% for Cambridge. However, this varies by country if your from an eu country the acceptance rate could be as high as 18%. Singapore students and Chinese students have a 19.6% and 14.9% success rates respectively.
I would assume that Japan has a similar high success rate. Just make sure you exceed the entry requirements and have done some interesting extracurriculars related to your course so you have something to write about in your personal statement/ talk about in interview.
Students with AAA* on their A levels have a 52% success rate, students with AAA have a 26% success rate. That would be the equivalent of 40-42 on IB having a 52% success rate and 38-39 for a 26% success rate. Also the success rate varies from 15% for engineering to as high as 47.7 % for classics.
All the Cambridge admissions statistics are in this link:
http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/undergrad_admissions_statistics_2014_cycle.pdf
Hope this helps