What dya think?

International Students
1

<p>Applied Penn ED but now I’m getting really stressed bout it =/, just wanted to get other peoples’ perspectives, since im indian and applying from india thought itd be sensible to post here :P</p>

<p>I’m applying to the College of Arts and Sciences =o</p>

<p>Born and brought up in the Middle East, had to leave school over an ethical issue where school forced me to choose between ethics and studies (commonapp essay), moved to India last year to study IB for the last 2 years of school</p>

<p>SAT 1 (messed up =/)
C 700
M 670
W 650</p>

<p>SAT 2
M1 760
M2 730
Lit 660</p>

<p>IGCSE = 10 A*
Currently doing the IB with a predicted grade of 37</p>

<p>Essays: Solid
Reccos: Apparently they’re great :open_mouth: according to my counsellor</p>

<p>Randoms and Extra Curr’s</p>

<p>8 MUN conferences - Best Delegate at most recent</p>

<p>Violin - played for 8 years, Grade 6 Distinction ABRSM exams</p>

<p>Yr 7 - student of the school
yr 10 - student of the year
yr 11 - history prize</p>

<p>Basketball and Cricket teams - last 4 years</p>

<p>community service chairman (current school)</p>

<p>teach underpriviledged kids for 2 years 2-3 hours a week</p>

<p>part of round square exec committee </p>

<p>LAMDA Public speaking grade 8 with distinction</p>

<p>Doing gold IAYP award, completed bronze and silver</p>

<p>writer in the school magazine</p>

<p>Student Council - last 4 years</p>

<p>president of school debate club year 10</p>

<p>nd thats it for now…ill add more as i remember</p>

<p>nd im not applying for FA :o dunno how much a diff itd make but penn’s supposed to have limited fa for intl students so hopefully i get a small leg up?</p>

2

<p>Your SAT score is the only “liable” aspect of your app. Mid term results?</p>

3

<p>Holy God. 10A*s? WOW :open_mouth: </p>

<p>YOU. ARE. A. LEGEND.</p>

4

<p>Are the 37 points with or without the 3 additional points? What subjects do you do?
I do the IB as well and I haven’t met anyone in this forum who does so naturally I was intrigued :)</p>

5

<p>37 predicted outta 45 is really not good for places like HYPSM and Penn etc</p>

6

<p>It depends on your subjects. Once again, if this is without the 3 points and if we can assume he will get 3 additional points, his score goes up to 40 which is a very respectable score. That said, in the IB world anything in the high 30s is considered a good score since the global average last year was 27 I believe.</p>

7

<p>IB students were royally screwed this year. The Geneva guys changed the grade boundaries completely as a result of which all the average and above-average students suffered!</p>

<p>40/45 is VERY GOOD.</p>

<p>But.</p>

<p>Usually the school gives inflated predicted grades. Like in my school, the ones who go to an HYP or equivalent usually have a 42/45 + predicted score. They end up getting 37-38 lol</p>

8

<p>Can’t blame the school completely though. In my school, they base it on the exams we’ve taken which consist of only past IB questions. So if we do well in those, it’s understandable why schools predict you high. They can’t anticipate the IBO’s ridiculous grade curves that change every year.
Although I do concede schools do have a habit of grade inflation. Hence why the US looks more at GPA rather than predictions and the IB exams only serve as extra credit in college (except for those planning on doing a gap year). Some people in our school who were predicted 43 ended up getting 34. It was a real shocker, especially since the 43 was completely justified since they were brilliant students. There’s the IB for you.
I’m pretty peeved about how hard they make it for anyone to get a 7. My teachers think so too. Unfortunately for me (and other people doing the IB and applying to the US), American colleges still don’t fully understand the IB. They’re getting there, but they haven’t completely. Which is why some Americans in my school who’re applying dropped the full IB, since technically it doesn’t serve them much of a purpose. The only big advantage you have with the IB is that schools recognize the rigor of your program since it’s an internationally accredited thing. Apart from that, it’s not as important as say the UK, where your predicted grade is the very thing that gets you an offer from the University in the first place.</p>

9

<p>sorry for late reply =/
thnx for taking the time to reply :)</p>

<p>@columbialove,</p>

<p>by mid-terms do u mean half yearly grades? coz my school’s kinda weird in that we get december grades but have our mocks in feb :o, so our predicteds are pretty much what our half yearly report is, and then we don’t’ have nything after that till the actual ib grades :S</p>

<p>@aniruddhc and arunemo</p>

<p>lol thanks =), it was a lotta work :P</p>

<p>buuut i kinda messed up after joining the school here =/
im on a 37 predicted with bonus points
the school doesn’t overpredict unfortunately, it underpredicts…they predicted a coupla kids 43s or so and they ended up with 31s so we got royally screwed over</p>

<p>I’m currently on:</p>

<p>Math hl 4
Hist hl 6
Eco hl 6
Phys sl 6
Spanish ab 6
Eng sl 6</p>

<p>ToK+EE - 3</p>

<p>My math school grade is really messed up =/ dunno y, which’s why i took the math sat subject tests</p>

<p>i did the sat 1 again today and im pretty sure i got an 800 in math :o so if they defer me then hopefully i can get in with the new grades</p>

10

<p>Yea that happens. Last year in a graduating class of 70+ only 4 kids got above 40. Crazy.
Oh nice, I’m doing Eng A1 HL, Philosophy HL, Bio HL, Chem HL, Math SL, and French AB Initio. You shouldn’t worry about the Math grade, it’s pretty screwed up almost everywhere including my school…no one gets a 7, except for 2 people who did Further Math, but that’s a different thing.</p>

11

<p>Arunemo, FOUR HL SUBJECTS? Man, you must be a GENIUS! :O</p>

<p>Yeah and you’re correct; God knows why they consider IB to be the same as AP! :S</p>

12

<p>Hardly Aniruddh. I had an option to drop it, but I like all four too much. My Chem grade sucks though, I’ve been around a 5/5+ throughout and now I have a 6, but there’s no way I’ll get a 7. Easily my hardest subject :S
I find it so annoying that they think the IB is sort of like a glorified AP, it most certainly isn’t. The rigor they talk about is certainly no joke. It’s like AP on steroids. Out of all the education systems I’ve been in, IMO it’s the hardest one I’ve encountered.</p>

13

<p>so…whatd ye think? :O</p>