Breaking into IB with Poor High School Results

Hi WSO,

Having graduated high school (redacted) years ago, I am currently studying (redacted) at (redacted) to get access to university as my school years were marred by bullying and personal issues and my grades reflect that: (redacted).

I am now much more of an academically-minded person, considered intelligent by my peers, and I'm confident that I'll get good grades at university. I haven't applied yet but I'm certain that my high school grades will weigh down my competitive edge and even if I were to get a perfect grade at college I will most likely end studying A&F at a non-target (with a good business school).

What I'm seeking is advice:

  • Do you know anybody from a similar background who managed to get into IB or a similarly competitive career?
  • What should my main focuses be outside of my studies to stand out?
  • I've heard that doing a Master's at a target can help, but others say industry experience is better. What are your thoughts on this?

Hopefully this question hasn't been asked too many times before. Thanks!

7 Comments
 

where are u going?- from your description it sounds like city+bayes or reading/henley?

 

im not going to lie, its going to be virtually impossible to break in at UG level unless your dad is an MD. You’ll likely get pre screened with your grades unfortunately.

If you really want to break in, you should definitely get as much experience as possible (big four summer internships might be a good start as some do blind recruiting) and then either go via the big four route into IB or try get into a target masters (LSE LBS ICL) .

 

they don’t formally state they do but its sort of known that they do if that makes sense. normally the threshold is like ABB -AAB as a minimum.

so yeah if i were you id just stick it out , grind for a first, try get any relevant work exp, get a killer GMAT score and try get into a targets masters. That’s essentially my plan and I’m going to a target uni (hopefully i can break in at UG but the competition seems insane)

 

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