This page sets out the IELTS scores that eight US universities print on their own admissions pages, as read in October 2026. They are examples, one row per institution, not a list of requirements: pages change, and a campus, programme or department can set a different figure from the one shown. Naming a university here does not mean Band Booster IELTS has any link with it, and this page recommends no band. Open the page for your own programme before you plan anything.
Admissions pages only. This page covers university admissions pages. Student-visa requirements are a separate matter and are not covered here; IELTS scores for study abroad covers student-visa scores in Australia, Canada and the UK, not the United States.
Eight US admissions pages and the IELTS scores they list (read October 2026)
Each link goes to the university's own page, which is the place to confirm the current wording. The first column names the institution and the level its page is about.
| Institution and level | What its page says about IELTS | What else the page says |
|---|---|---|
| University of California (system), first-year applicants | IELTS 6.5 or higher, one of several exam benchmarks the page lists for first-year applicants who completed all of their secondary school in a country where English is not the language of instruction. | The page says a UC campus may require a score higher than the minimum when it selects students for admission. |
| UC Berkeley, undergraduate admissions (the page has a separate transfer section; check it if that is you) | A minimum IELTS score of 6.5, listed among the page's English proficiency exams. | Students with 3 or more years of English as the language of instruction also satisfy English proficiency, but a mixed language of instruction does not (Berkeley's own rule; see below). |
| Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) | IELTS Academic: a minimum of 7 overall and a minimum Speaking score of 6.5. It is the third of three ways the page lists to show English proficiency. | A footnote says some degree programmes may require higher scores on the TOEFL or the IELTS. |
| Stanford, graduate admissions | IELTS 7 is the minimum for admission consideration. IELTS 8 is the minimum for exemption from Stanford's English Placement Test. | Each graduate programme may set a higher minimum score for admission consideration. |
| MIT, graduate admissions | Recommends a minimum IELTS score of at least 7. | Each department sets its own minimum, which supersedes the recommendation. |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Graduate College | IELTS Academic: 6.5 for limited status admission and 7.5 for full status admission. | A separate minimum for each of the two statuses. The page says individual academic programmes may require a higher score, or additional evidence of spoken English. |
| George Mason University | Undergraduate: 6.5 with 6.0 in each subsection. Graduate: 7.0 with 6.5 in each subsection. | A separate line for College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) applicants: 6.5 and no minimum subsection score. The page says it will not accept exam scores older than two years. |
| University of Maryland Graduate School | An overall score of 7 for full enrolment. | The same table lists lower scores for bridge and intensive English routes, and sets figures for individual skills. The page says individual programmes may hold applicants to more stringent requirements. |
What the eight examples show, and what they do not
In these examples the undergraduate lines sit at 6.5: the University of California's first-year route, UC Berkeley and George Mason. The graduate pages vary more. Illinois lists 6.5 for limited status and 7.5 for full status. Harvard Griffin GSAS, Stanford and Maryland list 7, George Mason's graduate line is 7.0, and MIT recommends at least 7.
That is a pattern in eight pages, not a rule. Another university can ask for more or less, and two courses at the same university can differ. At least six of the eight pages say something like this themselves, as the last column of the table shows: UC, Harvard Griffin GSAS, Stanford, MIT, Illinois and Maryland. The George Mason table has no such sentence, but its CEC line shows that one college can have a different line from the rest of the university.
Five things a number can mean
The same digit can play different roles, so read the sentence around it.
- A minimum on one route to showing English proficiency. UC, UC Berkeley and Harvard Griffin GSAS print a minimum IELTS score as one of several ways to show English proficiency, and UC adds that a campus may ask for more.
- A minimum for consideration. Stanford's 7 is the minimum for admission consideration, and the page adds that a programme may set a higher one.
- A recommendation. MIT's page recommends at least 7 and says each department sets its own minimum, which supersedes the recommendation.
- A status or a route. Illinois lists one minimum for limited status admission and another for full status admission. Maryland's overall 7 is for full enrolment, and the same table lists lower scores for bridge and intensive English routes.
- An exemption from another test. Stanford's 8 is the minimum for exemption from its English Placement Test. It is not an admission score.
Overall score, or each skill?
Some lines name more than the overall band. Harvard Griffin GSAS lists 7 on IELTS Academic and a Speaking score of at least 6.5. George Mason's undergraduate line is 6.5 with 6.0 in each subsection, and its graduate line is 7.0 with 6.5 in each. Maryland's table also sets figures for individual skills. The UC, Berkeley and Illinois lines used here give no separate figure for individual skills, though their pages may say more elsewhere.
On these pages a condition on each skill sits alongside the overall one rather than replacing it. The IELTS band score calculator shows how four skill scores average into an overall band, so you can see how an overall figure could be met while one skill falls short.
Berkeley's English-instruction rule
UC Berkeley's international requirements page says students who have 3 or more years of Language of Instruction (LOI) in English will also satisfy English proficiency, and adds that a mixed language of instruction does not satisfy it. That is Berkeley's rule. Other pages in this set describe their own exemptions or waivers, which differ from one university to the next and are not covered here. Check your own university's page before you decide whether you need a test score at all.
Score age, test version and where to look next
- Age of a score. George Mason's page says it will not accept exam scores older than two years. Other pages set their own limits on how old a score may be, and the page on sending scores, below, covers some of them, so check yours.
- Academic or General Training. The Harvard Griffin GSAS, Stanford, Illinois and Maryland pages name IELTS Academic. In the lines read for this page, the UC, MIT and George Mason pages name no version, and this page does not list one for Berkeley, so check which version your programme names; see IELTS Academic or General Training.
- Sending your score. How IELTS results are reported to US universities is covered in sending IELTS scores to US universities.
- IELTS Online and One Skill Retake. Whether US universities accept those results is covered in IELTS Online and One Skill Retake at US universities. For how a retake differs from a full test, see One Skill Retake or a full retake.
- Speaking scores for teaching assistants. Speaking figures for teaching assistant roles are covered in IELTS Speaking scores for teaching assistants in the USA.
This page is about university admissions. If you need IELTS for a profession such as nursing, see IELTS for nurses in the USA.
What ielts.org says about US institutions
ielts.org's IELTS USA page says more than 13,500 organisations worldwide recognise IELTS, with more than 3,400 institutions in the USA alone. That is ielts.org's own claim, read in October 2026. A count of institutions says nothing about the score a particular programme asks for, so it cannot stand in for that programme's page.
How to find the figure for your own programme
- Find the page for your exact level and programme: undergraduate or graduate, and the college or department where there is one.
- Note what kind of number it is, as in the list above, and whether it is an overall band, a figure for each skill, or both.
- Look for a sentence saying a campus, programme or department may set a higher score or its own minimum, as most of the pages here do.
- Check how old a score may be and which version of the test the page names.
- If the page is unclear, ask the admissions office. This page is not a substitute for asking.
Where Band Booster IELTS fits
Band Booster IELTS is a private online tutor, not a test centre, an agent or an admissions adviser. It does not register students for the test, set exam fees or issue results, and this page quotes no exam fee or test date. Mike holds the Cambridge CELTA and is based in Hanoi. He teaches every session himself, one-to-one and live in English on Google Meet. In his own IELTS test he scored 8.5 in Speaking; see About Mike.
Once you know the figure your programme asks for, lessons can work on Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Writing (Task 1 and Task 2) is marked against the public band descriptors, and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1 in the Writing band. Speaking is practised in the real three-part format, with feedback during the session rather than days later. If a page names a Speaking figure, as the Harvard Griffin GSAS page does, Speaking coaching works on Parts 1, 2 and 3 against the four equally weighted criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. No band, admission or exemption is promised: progress depends on your starting point and the work you do between sessions.
A regular session lasts 60 minutes. The booking page shows each slot in your own time zone and your price in your own currency before you pay. There is no subscription and no package to commit to. A paid 30-minute trial can be taken once, on a first booking, and you can reschedule at no charge up to 12 hours before the slot; a cancellation inside 12 hours is not refunded. Our page for learners in the United States covers time zones and the lessons in more detail, and computer-delivered IELTS in the United States explains what changes with computer-delivered IELTS.