Although I applied to four other universities – two in Canada and two in the United States – my top choice became my only choice when it came down to the end. How so? Well, the other universities demanded that I made a decision in May; which led me to inform them that I would not be attending their programs (with high hopes that my grades would sustain my acceptance into the Spanish university). However, as mentioned in the previous entry, the acceptance offer I received from my top-choice university in Spain was merely conditional, requiring that my final IB score was to be kept the same as my predicted grades. Gladly, after over one month of waiting for the final transcripts to be published and sent, it all worked out!
“What happens if my final grades drop in comparison to my predicted grades?”
This question lingered in my mind all through senior year, even after having it answered by college counselors and university representatives, there was always that feeling of uncertainty. Even when universities were tolerant with their conditions (meaning students are still accepted with a drop in scores), my mind always found a way to think of a “what if”. And seeing other students feel the same way, I came to realize that such doubt and restlessness, even when told not to worry by professionals, is completely normal, especially when you don’t have access to your final scores until the day you have to send them to the university.
It’s a natural way our brain finds to protect and prepare us from what we, as graduates, think of as “the worst outcome” – having our acceptances revoked and finding ourselves having to apply elsewhere, or waiting another semester to re-apply.
While some universities are indeed strict with their conditions, the truth is that most universities are, in fact, lenient; affirming that they will still accept students if their scores drop by a certain amount of points. Furthermore, various universities follow through with the acceptances of students even if they just pass the International Baccalaureate, in spite of the students’ final scores displaying a considerably high drop in grades. And some will look once again into the student’s background, CV and/or application responses and essays to find reasons to still recruit the student despite the decline in academic performance.
Nonetheless, it is important that you are informed about the stance of the university(es) you’re applying to regarding the conditions they offer to ensure that your condition is met within their standards, as they vary from university to university, and often vary from program to program as well. For instance, the condition offered to a student applying for a science-related major will likely differ from that offered to a student applying for an arts-related major.
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