Step 1: Review Requirements

International Baccalaureate Requirements

You'll need:

A complete IB Diploma, including:
- Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay
- Passes in at least six subjects (three at Higher Level)
- A minimum total grade of 27 (including the Extended Essay and TOK)
- No mark less than 4 on any course
- Required courses for your program

Program-Specific Requirements

Every program has specific course and supplemental requirements.

Required courses: You need these for admission to the program
Recommended courses: You don't need these to be admitted, but we do recommend that you take them to be successful in your first year and to be able to take the courses you need
Supplemental requirements: These are additional forms, portfolios or auditions (they help us decide if the program is right for you)

No required courses

Supplemental Requirements

Fine Arts: Studio

Online Portfolio and Personal Statement (Required)
- Deadline: February 15, 2025

School for Advanced Studies in Arts & Humanities

Statement of Interest (Required)
- Deadline: February 28, 2025

All Other Arts & Humanities Programs

No Supplemental Requirements

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Math (Any)
IB Science (Any)

Required Courses

HL or SL IB Chemistry
HL or SL IB Physics
One of:
- HL or SL IB Math Analysis and Approaches (AA)
- HL only IB Math Applications and Interpretation (AI)

Supplemental Requirements

You must complete the Casper test
- Register and take the test as soon as possible. It can take three weeks for Western to get your results, and you can't receive an offer of admission without them.

Recommended Courses

Interested in the BSc? Math (any), Biology, and Chemistry will be required.

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Biology
IB Chemistry
IB Math Analysis or Math Applications

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Biology
IB Math (Any)

Recommended Courses

HL or SL Chemistry
- Interested in the  Honours  Specialization in Health Sciences with Biology? You’ll need IB Chemistry to take the first year Chemistry courses required for the module.

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Biology

Recommended Courses

We recommend Math and Physics to prepare you for senior Kinesiology subjects in biomechanics, research methods and statistics
IB Chemistry is required for first year Chemistry courses
Interested in the BSc? We strongly recommend IB Science courses like Chemistry, Math or Physics.

Required Courses

HL or SL IB Math (Any)

More on Management & Organizational Studies

Required Courses

HL or SL IB Math (Any)

Recommended Courses

For the flight option: HL or SL IB Physics

Supplemental Requirements

CAM Supplementary Application Form (Required) 
- Deadline: March 1, 2025
For the Flight Option:
- We require a valid Transport Canada Category 1 Medical Certificate before flight training can begin
- We strongly recommend two hours of small aircraft flying time

Recommended Courses

HL or SL:

IB Physics
- If you didn't take IB Physics, that's okay! There's a first-year Physics course you can take at Western. If you do have the chance to take Physics in your IB, we recommend it to help with course selection.

Required Courses

Music Administrative Studies

IB Math Applications or IB Math Analysis (HL or SL)

Supplemental Requirements

Faculty recommendation based on your Audition, Interview and Theory Placement (Required)
- Register for your audition by February 1, 2025

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Biology
IB Chemistry
IB English
IB Math Analysis or Math Applications

We might request course descriptions/syllabi to assess the suitability of your courses. We’ll tell you if we need this when we’re reviewing your application.

Supplemental Requirements

Casper Test (Required)
- We recommend taking the test as early as possible. The last available test is March 4, 2025.
Deadline to apply to Nursing: February 15, 2025

Required Courses

HL or SL:

IB Math (Any)
IB Science (Any)

Recommended Courses

You’ll need IB Biology and Chemistry to take first year Biology and Chemistry courses at Western. First-year Biology and Chemistry courses are required for ALL modules offered in the Bachelor of Medical Sciences and Neurosciences programs.

Supplemental Requirements

Western Integrated Science

WISc Application (Required)
- Deadline: April 7, 2025

All Other Science Programs

No Supplemental Requirements

Recommended Courses

IB Math (Any)
- All Specializations and Majors in Psychology requires a first-year university Math course; therefore, we highly recommend IB Math for this program
- Math is helpful as preparation for Sociology and Geography programs
- You’ll need IB Math Applications (HL only) or IB Math Analysis (SL or HL) for all Economics modules
For the BSc in Psychology: IB Biology, and Chemistry or Physics

Ontario IB Students

Though you could get transfer credit for your IB courses, we’ll assess you for admission based on your OSSD. Your guidance office will convert your predicted and final IB scores into Ontario high school grades. They’ll submit those converted grades through the OUAC.

See Ontario Requirements

When You Apply

After you apply on the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), you'll get an email with instructions to create a Western Student Center account within 10 business days of applying.

In your Student Center, you'll have a To Do List with all the documents we need from you and how you need to submit them. In most cases, we won't need originals yet—all you'll need to do is upload a copy to your Student Center.

You'll need to submit your grades. You may also submit required or optional supplementary forms to support your application.

We'll ask you to resubmit your documents if you don't send us what we asked for, or if you send it in a different way than what we asked for. To avoid delays, make sure you follow the instructions on your Student Center!

After You Accept

If you get an offer and you accept it (hooray! 🎉), then we'll ask you for official documents including all of your final grades.

We'll ask for your final IB grades to be sent directly to us by the IBO Examining Board.

You can apply even if you haven’t graduated yet. We’ll use your predicted results to calculate an admissions average. In this case, we may offer you conditional admission.

If you receive an offer, the conditions of your offer will be clearly outlined in your Offer of Admission letter and on your Offer Portal. Usually, we want to see that you have graduated and that you kept your grades above a minimum average.

When you graduate, you'll send us your official final documents, and we'll check to see you met your conditions. If successful, we will turn your conditional offer into an unconditional offer, but we won't issue you a new offer letter.

When You Apply

After you apply on the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), you'll get an email with instructions to create a Western Student Center account within 10 business days of applying.

You'll need to submit your grades. You may also submit required or optional supplementary forms to support your application.

After You Accept

If you get an offer and you accept it (hooray! 🎉), then we'll ask you for official documents including all of your final grades.

We'll ask for your final IB grades to be sent directly to us by the IBO Examining Board.

You can apply even if you haven’t graduated yet. We’ll use your predicted results to calculate an admissions average. In this case, we may offer you conditional admission.

What are your chances?

We will consider your application if you have all minimum requirements. But for the best chance of admission, you’ll usually need predicted results in the low to mid 30s.

The grades you will need vary for each program and for each admission cycle. You’ll usually need 35+ for scholarships and our most competitive applications, such as Advanced Entry Opportunity AEO and Scholar’s Electives.

Students that were admitted to:	Typically had averages between:
Arts & Humanities	28 - 30
Arts & Humanities - Fine Arts: Studio	25 - 28
Computer Science	30 - 32
Engineering	33 - 35
Family Studies & Human Development	28 - 30
Foods & Nutrition	28 - 32
Health Science	35 - 38
Kinesiology	30 - 32
Management & Organizational Studies	30 - 33
Management & Organizational Studies - Commercial Aviation Management	28 - 30
Media and Communication Studies	28 - 30
Medical Sciences	35 - 37
Music (BMUS), Music (BA)	25 - 28
Music Administrative Studies	30 - 33
Nursing	35 - 40
Science	28 - 32
Social Science	28 - 32

IB courses can get you transfer credit

If you complete the full IB Diploma and earn a 5 or higher in your HL courses, an admissions officer will assess you for transfer credit. These are credits that could count towards your degree at Western.

For Ontario high school students, we assess your transfer credits after you accept your offer.

For all other applicants, we assess your transfer credits when we make you an offer.

How do IB transfer credits work?

You can use your credits to "skip" any equivalent Western courses (unless you want to take the subject again — many students do!).

There are lots of options, but they don't all work for everyone. So, you should discuss what’s best for you with an advisor at Western Launch: 1-1 Course Advising after you accept your offer.

Here’s a list to give you an idea of how your credits could transfer.

IB Subject	Western Credit	Credit Weight
HL Biology	Biology 1001A and 1002B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Business Management	Business 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Chemistry	Chemistry 1301A and 1302B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Chinese B	Chinese 0002 TRN	1.0
HL Chinese Literature	Chinese 0002 TRN	1.0
HL Computer Science	Computer Science 1026A and 1027B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Design Technology	Science 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Digital Society	Digital Communications 1020 TRN	0.5
HL Economics	Economics 1021A and 1022B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL English A	English 1020E	1.0
HL English B	Not Eligible
HL Film	Film 1022	1.0
HL French	French 1900	1.0
HL French B	French 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Geography	Geography 1400F and 1500G	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Global Politics	Political Science 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Greek	Greek 1020 TRN	1.0
HL History	History 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Information Technology in Global Studies	Interdisciplinary Studies 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Languages	Language 1030	1.0
HL Latin	Latin 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Math Applications	Math 1229A and Statistics 1020 TRN	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Math Analysis	Calculus 1000A and Math 1229B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Math	Calculus 1000A and Math 1229B	1.0 (0.5 each)
SL Further Math	Calculus 1501A and Math 1020 TRN	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Music	Music 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Philosophy	Philosophy 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Physics	Physics 1501A and 1502B	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Psychology	Psychology 1002 and 1003	1.0 (0.5 each)
HL Social and Cultural Anthropology	Anthropology 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Theatre Arts	Theatre Arts 1020 TRN	1.0
HL Visual Arts	Visual Arts 1020 TRN	1.0

Keep in mind:

Western courses numbered 1000 to 1999 = First-year courses
Western courses numbered 2000 to 2999 = Second-year courses
TRN = The IB course is not directly equivalent to the Western course, but you may still use it towards your degree

How does applying work?

When and how do you apply? And what happens after? Read our application instructions so you can feel confident in this process.

How to apply

International Baccalaureate Requirements

Program-Specific Requirements

Arts & Humanities

Supplemental Requirements

Computer Science

Required Courses

Engineering

Required Courses

Supplemental Requirements

Family Studies & Human Development

Recommended Courses

Foods and Nutrition

Required Courses

Health Sciences

Required Courses

Recommended Courses

Kinesiology

Required Courses

Recommended Courses

Management & Organizational Studies

Required Courses

Management & Organizational Studies - Commercial Aviation Management

Required Courses

Recommended Courses

Supplemental Requirements

Media and Communication Studies

Medical Sciences

Recommended Courses

Music

Required Courses

Supplemental Requirements

Nursing

Required Courses

Supplemental Requirements

Science

Required Courses

Recommended Courses

Supplemental Requirements

Social Science

Recommended Courses

Ontario IB Students

Submitting Your Documents

When You Apply

After You Accept

Haven't Graduated Yet?

What are your chances?

IB courses can get you transfer credit

How do IB transfer credits work?

Keep in mind:

How does applying work?