Starting to seriously look at unis now. I want to do physics (edging towards masters) I'm interested in quite a few unis, primarily UCL, Exeter, Cardiff, York, Sheffield, and possibly Leeds. I really like the idea of UCL mostly, I should be able to get AAB-ABB at the end of my A Levels provided that everything goes right...how I wish I worked harder this year to make applications look better, lol.
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Final Grades/GPA thread/School/University Discussion
- Thread starter sora13
- Start date
Well I know I'm really late, but from what it looks like, I don't think IB is a good fit for you (or at least the full diploma). I just finished Grade 11 in full IB, and the diploma forces you to take 6 mandatory courses which fall into different groups, so if you're not well-rounded or prefer to focus on one thing, I think IB might be the best choice. I'm not saying you're not well-rounded, but you seem to be very good at music and are planning to make a career out of it, so if you know what you want to do in life this early, you might want to consider focussing on that in its near entirety. However, if you like taking different types of courses (and are prepared for them to be hard, since IB was definitely very challenging), then by all means go for it. Nothing is stopping you from dropping it mid-year. I can say from my experience, I love taking different kinds of courses, so IB was a nice fit. Unfortunately, the fact it requires for people to take Theory of Knowledge meant I had no room for Physics, which was disappointing, but I wanted to challenge myself with the full IB diploma.
Anyways, I got my final Grade 11 marks back, and I finished with a 93% average in full IB, which is a shit load better than I expected. It went down by 1% from last year, but I figured it would be a whole lot worse lol. I'm stuck writing my Extended Essay this summer though, which is a major bummer :(.
I just graduated from IB, so I can tell you that if you're going to go the music direction, don't do IB. I know only one person from my IB program who is going to study music, and she was missing school like crazy and didn't perform to the best of her ability because of that. Seriously, music schools probably don't even care if you went to an IB school if you're a great musician.
I didn't get my IB diploma because I only had 11 points on my HL exams when I need 12. I had 27 points overall and got a B on extended essay. Apparently I can retake an exam next year to get my diploma, so I'll look into that. Overall, though, I do recommend IB even though I didn't get my diploma. It was tough at times, but in the end, being able to say that I did IB seems worth it.
In other news, I got a 5 on AP Calc when I absolutely for sure thought I got a 1 or a 2!
In other news, I got a 5 on AP Calc when I absolutely for sure thought I got a 1 or a 2!
You should be able to retake one in november, if you can find a school that'd allow it.
I haven't checked my IB marks yet, really worried I failed Chem and Physics, but should get the Diploma relatively easily. I definitely recommend IB for anyone with a rather lax regular curriculum. Even if you don't do great, the teachers are better, the students are smarter (and more inclined to work) and, at least in my experience, teachers are extremely willing to help you out through the hard parts of IB, as long as you stay in the program =P.
Also I find predicted grades to be pretty BS, they inflate them because they know they're likely going to be decreased anyway. Always take them with a jar full of salt. (I was predicted a 41-43/45 on IB -__-)
If you trust your own curriculum to be pretty good as it is, there's likely no need for IB.
I haven't checked my IB marks yet, really worried I failed Chem and Physics, but should get the Diploma relatively easily. I definitely recommend IB for anyone with a rather lax regular curriculum. Even if you don't do great, the teachers are better, the students are smarter (and more inclined to work) and, at least in my experience, teachers are extremely willing to help you out through the hard parts of IB, as long as you stay in the program =P.
Also I find predicted grades to be pretty BS, they inflate them because they know they're likely going to be decreased anyway. Always take them with a jar full of salt. (I was predicted a 41-43/45 on IB -__-)
If you trust your own curriculum to be pretty good as it is, there's likely no need for IB.
Shit... that sucks. I scraped a C with my EE. Dropped 4 full points for a 35. Oh well. Should've studied more.
What i was really hyped up for was my 6 in Physics HL. Shit was not expected.
What about Manchester? It's got a really good reputation for Physics apparently.
http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=6643
According to this, Manchester is #17 for Physics. I don't know how many universities there are in the UK, so I don't know if that's good or not.
My uncle went to Glasgow, I think, for comp science (That or Edinburgh) and he rated it positively. My Dad went to Lancaster years ago for engineering, and said it was pretty good.
@college choosers: I don't know if I said this before in the thread, but something that is really important for making your university decisions is the level of student services on campus, in particular:
- clubs and socs and other social activities like concerts/dance parties etc. depending on what you're into
- sporting facilities and services, if you're into that sort of thing
- food outlets and bars
- what sort of night life there is around campus
These things are often overlooked by students choosing their college, and a bunch of my friends from high school made that mistake and went to Newcastle university because it was the closest, and the student services are largely nonexistent, and they had a terrible time. On the other hand, one of the best components of USyd where I went is the clubs and socs program is very well supported/funded.
Ultimately, while reputation for study is pretty important, and the quality of your subject research is definitely a big consideration; you will be spending almost every week for 3-5 years at least at this institution. If you've got nothing to do to have fun and noone to hang out with, you will enjoy it much less and your overall passion for your work will inevitably fall as well.
MrIndigo is right on the money. Honestly, when you get to the top tier, they're all about the same education wise as long as they have a comprehensive program in your major. You'll learn a lot everywhere in the top tier, not just MIT. Stuff like that is far more variable between campuses so be sure to focus on that rather than counting the number of perfect SAT scores they reject.
I applied to do physics last year at Durham, Warwick, Imperial, and St. Andrews. At Imperial my course was physics with theoretical physics, everywhere else was a general physics course. Is it possible to get into UCL with AAB? I get the impression it's really tough to get into UCL these days :/ Durham, Warwick and Imperial all asked for at least AAA.
I'm really stoked right now, I got a 4 on my AP Global test when I thought I completely bombed the essays (I thought for sure I was looking at a 2, hoping for a 3).
As for my classes:
Global 10 ES - A
Chemistry - A
Algebra II ES - B+
English 10 - A
Orchestra - A
Health - A
Architectural Design - A
Spanish III - A
Gym - Who cares?
Overall a pretty good year, although I did wreck my 4.0 but what can you do?
As for my classes:
Global 10 ES - A
Chemistry - A
Algebra II ES - B+
English 10 - A
Orchestra - A
Health - A
Architectural Design - A
Spanish III - A
Gym - Who cares?
Overall a pretty good year, although I did wreck my 4.0 but what can you do?
(1st semester, second semester)
American Government and Economics A-, B+
Honors Geometry A+, A+
English 9 A-, A-
Honors Biology, A-, A-
Honors Spanish II, A-, B+
Band A+, A+
American Government and Economics A-, B+
Honors Geometry A+, A+
English 9 A-, A-
Honors Biology, A-, A-
Honors Spanish II, A-, B+
Band A+, A+
It's not amazing or anything, but I pulled fours on both AP US History and AP Language and Composition. I'm pretty much dead set on going to BYU for college, and fours get me the credit hours I need so I'm pretty stoked.
Also, I got my ACT scores back and got a 31 on my first go at it. I think I'll take it again with writing and see if I can't bring it up in the 33 range.
As for grades, I finished this year with straight As which I'm pretty glad about. My classes were:
APUSH
APLAC
PreCalculus/Trig
Pre-AP Physics
Spanish II
Wind Ensemble (top band)
Jazz Band
Seminar (required for all students)
Next year I'm looking at a lineup of:
AP Government
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus
AP Lit and Comp
Econ/PE (required to graduate and I've saved them until now)
Wind Ensemble
Jazz Band
Seminar
I'm also on Student Council this year as the senior class reporter so hopefully that'll get me into BYU where I can take general ed classes and find a major I enjoy!
Also, I got my ACT scores back and got a 31 on my first go at it. I think I'll take it again with writing and see if I can't bring it up in the 33 range.
As for grades, I finished this year with straight As which I'm pretty glad about. My classes were:
APUSH
APLAC
PreCalculus/Trig
Pre-AP Physics
Spanish II
Wind Ensemble (top band)
Jazz Band
Seminar (required for all students)
Next year I'm looking at a lineup of:
AP Government
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus
AP Lit and Comp
Econ/PE (required to graduate and I've saved them until now)
Wind Ensemble
Jazz Band
Seminar
I'm also on Student Council this year as the senior class reporter so hopefully that'll get me into BYU where I can take general ed classes and find a major I enjoy!
In addition, very few careers actually care that much about where you went specifically within the upper tiers. Older, more "elitist" professions tend to care (law firms, for instance, tend to select predominantly from older universities of classic repute; I think medicine is usually the same), but for anything else it rarely matters more than incidentally.
Also, while I have no personal experience with much of the facilities of this nature, Student Unions (or whatever the equivalent is in your nation) usually have a bunch of really important services on offer, including but not limited to:
- legal aid/representation/advice; students frequently run into legal issues in regards to tenancy rights in rental properties, industrial relations and losing their job or being exploited, sexual/racial/other discrimination.
- Job finding, employment and recruitment services
- House and housemate seeking
- travel services; arranging visas, cheap travel fair, advice and information
- advice for education issues; appealing unfair grades, career plans.
- Childcare services.
For a lot of students, these sorts of services are invaluable, and are well worth checking out when choosing your college.
EDIT:
I don't think that is actually a different course. Every university in the world teaches physics as a combination of experimental and theoretical components. (Normally, your lectures/exams are geared toward theoretical stuff, but you'll have other assessments of experimental/practical nature).
It's not a very good ranking but most people here will (or should) agree that university league tables really shouldn't be the #1 deciding factor for your place of study. IIRC a shedload of imporant Physics discoveries were made in Manchester (off the top of my head, Ernest Rutherford and the gold-foil experiment?). Also Brian Cox is based there!
Not to mention it's got a great nightlife etc. etc.. Living in Manchester I should know. 8)
(British) university league tables are notoriously unreliable / unintentionally hilarious.
Finished the year with straight A's, and just got my AP test result back (Sophomores are only allowed to take 1 AP course at my school). My classes this year were:
AP European History (Got a 5 on the AP Test, pretty excited.)
Pre-calc/Trig
H English (Probably the best English class I've ever taken, because the teacher took the time to tell us how to improve our essays and provide examples.)
Chemistry
Journalism (The school paper is a class at my school, its pretty fun and interesting)
Spanish III (I took Spanish I in 8th grade, so I was able to complete my third year in my second year of school)
Physical Education (This was actually my hardest class this year, because I kind of slacked off the whole time, but I squeaked out an A, only because I got an A on the final, it was terrible)
Study Hall (It would be hard not to pass...)
AP European History (Got a 5 on the AP Test, pretty excited.)
Pre-calc/Trig
H English (Probably the best English class I've ever taken, because the teacher took the time to tell us how to improve our essays and provide examples.)
Chemistry
Journalism (The school paper is a class at my school, its pretty fun and interesting)
Spanish III (I took Spanish I in 8th grade, so I was able to complete my third year in my second year of school)
Physical Education (This was actually my hardest class this year, because I kind of slacked off the whole time, but I squeaked out an A, only because I got an A on the final, it was terrible)
Study Hall (It would be hard not to pass...)
It's actually listed as a separate course from the general physics course; the impression I get is that during the first 2 years the overlap of course content with general physics is very large, but in the final year you're supposed to take the theoretical papers which are more mathematically involved - general relativity, quantum field theory etc as opposed to lasers, optics, advanced mechanics and so on.
Ah, okay; it's likely that the experimental assessment ends by the end of the second year and you can do theoretical research as opposed to experimental research.
I was pretty average through out high school (mostly Bs, 3-something GPA) and I plan on attending High Point Univ. next year with a major in Communication; specifically games & interactive media. Considering the hs that I went to is a college-preparatory charter school, I'm hoping first semester won't be too difficult.
As for my major, i'm not entirely sure about several things. HPU was one, if not the only, 4-year school that offers VG design on the east coast. There are trade schools that offer it, but I honestly don't want to go spending huge amounts of money for something that I may not even like with no way of switching majors, or certainly not getting a refund.
I know that I definetely want to work in the entertainment business and I've been leaning heavily towards either film or vg development (and when I say video game development, I mean the actual designer, not programming - I hated that in high school). The only thing I worry about with film is how individually driven it is. Sometimes art goes by unnoticed; sometimes damn good art too. And just like any other source in media, the most talented artist can slip into the background. I'm most likely not the most talented, but the point still stands that there's a certain amount luck & timing that comes into play and there's a certain type of person that you have to be when you have career like that, and I don't know if I would want to do that. I'm a thrill seeker, so who knows, maybe it would be exciting (though usually I don't place too much on the line, so still..).
The courses that I'll be taking fall semester are Art: Fundamentals of Design, Spanish 2, First Year Seminar: The Beatles, Calc 1, and president's seminar. It's a liberal arts school so hopefully I'll be able to try both film and vg design classes to help me make a decision.
As for my major, i'm not entirely sure about several things. HPU was one, if not the only, 4-year school that offers VG design on the east coast. There are trade schools that offer it, but I honestly don't want to go spending huge amounts of money for something that I may not even like with no way of switching majors, or certainly not getting a refund.
I know that I definetely want to work in the entertainment business and I've been leaning heavily towards either film or vg development (and when I say video game development, I mean the actual designer, not programming - I hated that in high school). The only thing I worry about with film is how individually driven it is. Sometimes art goes by unnoticed; sometimes damn good art too. And just like any other source in media, the most talented artist can slip into the background. I'm most likely not the most talented, but the point still stands that there's a certain amount luck & timing that comes into play and there's a certain type of person that you have to be when you have career like that, and I don't know if I would want to do that. I'm a thrill seeker, so who knows, maybe it would be exciting (though usually I don't place too much on the line, so still..).
The courses that I'll be taking fall semester are Art: Fundamentals of Design, Spanish 2, First Year Seminar: The Beatles, Calc 1, and president's seminar. It's a liberal arts school so hopefully I'll be able to try both film and vg design classes to help me make a decision.
I study in Singapore so I take the Cambridge-Singapore 'A' level examinations.
If I'm not mistaken, GPA is an accumulation of the grades throughout high school. But I take one-off examinations, which is pretty scary if you screw up.
Our minimum requirement is to take 3 Higher 2 (H2) and 1 H1 + General Paper (posh word for English language paper) + H1 Mother Tongue (Chinese for me) + Project Wok (a shit subject that NOBODY cares and it's taken in year 1). H3 subjects can be taken by students with good grades in year 1. The H3 subject is either university modules or some research paper.
My Grades:
H2 Mathematics: B
H2 Geography: A
H2 Literature in English: A
H2 English Language and Linguistics: A
H1 General Paper: A
H1 Mother Tongue: A
H1 Project Work: A
H3 Geopolitics: Merit (I'm surprised because I've totally no clue what I'm studying.)
Anyway, I will be entering Singapore Management University (SMU) studying accounting; this school is closely modeled after The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, I hope it's good. I actually got accepted by Cambridge and Oxford, but due to financial difficulties, I'm not entering.
If I'm not mistaken, GPA is an accumulation of the grades throughout high school. But I take one-off examinations, which is pretty scary if you screw up.
Our minimum requirement is to take 3 Higher 2 (H2) and 1 H1 + General Paper (posh word for English language paper) + H1 Mother Tongue (Chinese for me) + Project Wok (a shit subject that NOBODY cares and it's taken in year 1). H3 subjects can be taken by students with good grades in year 1. The H3 subject is either university modules or some research paper.
My Grades:
H2 Mathematics: B
H2 Geography: A
H2 Literature in English: A
H2 English Language and Linguistics: A
H1 General Paper: A
H1 Mother Tongue: A
H1 Project Work: A
H3 Geopolitics: Merit (I'm surprised because I've totally no clue what I'm studying.)
Anyway, I will be entering Singapore Management University (SMU) studying accounting; this school is closely modeled after The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, I hope it's good. I actually got accepted by Cambridge and Oxford, but due to financial difficulties, I'm not entering.
This sounds a little unlikely, given that you can (with rare exceptions) apply to only one of them.
I don't know, my teacher helped me apply, and i got emails from them. I don't know really.
