Is IB possible without a prestigious school?

sumitshukla
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:18:03 +0000

angryelf, thank you very much for your very detailed and informative response.

I currently go to Tennessee State University which isn’t ranked among top 50. I don’t think its even ranked in top 100 to be honest. One of the reasons that I decided on going there is because they offered me the presidential scholarship along with a membership to the honors program. The school was also close to my house and I didn’t really have better options due to my high school credentials.
High School credentials:
3.2 GPA (took most challenging curriculum, but started slacking off)
President and founder of math club
President of forensics club
Head fund manager of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)
Varsity Soccer (3 yrs)
Varsity Cross Country (2 yrs)
Varsity Track (2 yrs)
SAT I: math=720, reading=520, writing=480 (Didn’t care much for the writing section since the schools that I was considering disregarded it)
Volunteered at local hospital 500+ hours.

As you can see there wasn’t anything impressive, so I just decided to attend TSU.
I still want to transfer to a top tier school. This whole winter break I have been practicing SAT tests and have managed to consistently score around CR:650-700;M:750-800;W:700-750. I think that I can still do better and have registered to take the January SAT.

The teachers at my current school really like me and from what I’ve heard there are only about 4 students that have gone to do IB at a BB in last 5 years.
So far I haven’t had any experience in banking. I am trying to get an internship but since I am only a freshmen it is difficult.

What schools do you think I should apply for?
College Credentials:
GPA:3.667 (2 Bs’:chemistry and english both 8:00 am classes and I had missed too many days)
Presidential Scholarship
Honors Program
Honors Program Freshmen Representative
Co founder of the Soccer Club
Current Extracurriculars:
Soccer
Forensics (extemporaneous speaking, impromptu, and informative speaking)
Peer Tutoring (20 hrs/week)
I can also get really good recommendations from my Calculus and Economics Professors.

Do you not think that I have a chance of transferring at UPENN, UChicago, Emory, Cornell, Vandy, Carnegie Mellon, NYU (Stern)? I really want to go to UPENN (1st choice) do you think it would help waiting and applying as a sophomore?
Or What other schools would you suggest?

Thank you so much for your feedback.