The IBA bachelor is a Numerus Fixus programme and therefore selects students in accordance with the guidelines outlined by the Dutch government.
The Tiers
Submitted applications containing all necessary information are first assessed on four main points:
- General level of education must be equivalent to a Dutch secondary school diploma (VWO)
- English level meets the minimum requirement set by RSM (reference is VWO level, grade ≥7.0 or CEFR B2)
- Math level meets the minimum requirement set by RSM (reference is VWO math level A, grade ≥7.0 or VWO math level B, ≥6.0)
- Overall Grade Average meets the minimum grade threshold (reference is a 7.0 in the Dutch education system)
The results of the initial assessment determine whether an applicant meets the four general entry requirements. We place applicants who meet the four requirements in Tier 1. The reason we sort applicants into tiers is to ensure that those who meet all general entry requirements are at the top of the ranking. The lower tiers contain applicants who do not meet all general requirements.
Final Score & rank
Next, applicants receive scores for their unrounded grade average (75% of the final score) and their motivation for wanting to join the IBA programme (25% of the final score). We measure motivation for the programme by asking applicants to answer three questions.
The two scores are added together to generate a “final score”. Applicants in each tier are sorted by their final score and are assigned a final rank accordingly.