I'm graduating with an IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma, and I've heard rumours that IB doesn't actually help you when you get to uni. Is that true?

And, what transfer credits am I eligible for if I took HL Business, Visual Art and English? (Assuming that McMaster only takes transfer credits from HL courses with a level of 5 or more)

You should ask the office of registrar or your faculty advisor but according to my information, you will only get transfer credits for english

In my opinion, IB does help you, not in terms of material, but in work ethic.

In first year, most of the material is review (assuming you're taking the same courses as you did in Grade 12), but the workload is much greater and that's where people start falling behind. IB gets you used to all of that, and according to some professors, those that come in with an IB diploma generally tend to maintain their marks.

It's not too big of an advantage, as the IB program was designed to be able to allow you to apply to any university (hence "International") - since you're going local anyways, the benefits of IB may have been "stunted". Don't worry though, you'll find that not much in high school prepares you for university - IB was most likely your best bet.

It's not exactly clear cut that IB will do better than non IB. From what I have seen, neither really prepares you. You need good work ethic in first year to do well.

The trend that IB tend to do better just has to do with the high keener concentration in IB. If they work harder, they will get better grades, and this is expected.

It's true that IB is more accredited but you still have to do the work. It is also true that much of first year is a review of Ontario/IB curriculum (at least in science).

Good luck first years.

Originally Posted by leemeiying

I'm graduating with an IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma, and I've heard rumours that IB doesn't actually help you when you get to uni. Is that true?

And, what transfer credits am I eligible for if I took HL Business, Visual Art and English? (Assuming that McMaster only takes transfer credits from HL courses with a level of 5 or more)

It doesn't help you in Ontario. You have to do equally well in IB (ie. >36) as in straight OSS to be considered for competitive programs. Considering IB is a much more rigorous and difficult program, it was not worth it when I went through.

It depends on what program you can get credits in towards your degree. If you earn a degree in the faculty of business, maybe your HL Business will count towards your first year requirement. Check the international students page.

Does IB help? I wouldn't say so. Then again, I was smart enough to do ok (33) in it, but not smart enough as the rest of the class. So I've been pulling off all nighters since grade 12 on my EE. I used to think that IB taught me to at least effectively speak in public presentations, but the amount of technical ones that I've had to present (Engineering) were so different from English HL, that I now feel that it no longer helps anymore.