International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO)

International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO)

The IBO is a nonprofit educational foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. It grew out of international schools’ efforts to establish a common curriculum and university entry credential. The schools were also motivated by an idealistic vision. They hoped that critical thinking and exposure to a variety of points of view would encourage intercultural understanding by young people. They concentrated on the last two years of school before university studies in order to build a curriculum that would lead to what they called a “baccalaureate,” administered in any country and recognized by universities everywhere.

USU recognizes the International Baccalaureate program. Students who enter with International Baccalaureate credit are encouraged to apply to the Honors Program. Students who present an International Baccalaureate diploma will be awarded no more than the number of credits earned with a maximum of 30 credits. These credits will waive the appropriate Breadth and Communications Literacy requirements, but students will still be required to complete the Quantitative Literacy requirement, unless individual scores on IB exams waive those requirements. Each student’s transcript will be evaluated individually, based on the courses completed.

Students who have not completed the International Baccalaureate diploma may receive up to 8 credits for scores of 5 to 7 on higher-level exams (as shown below), up to a maximum of 30 credits.

Individual departments and/or colleges may specify the exact courses necessary to fulfill program requirements. Please note that more than the minimum General Education requirements may be necessary. For instance, some departments and colleges require specific coursework for General Education, and the IBO exams may not satisfy these requirements, in which case additional courses may be required.

If, prior to (or after) taking an IBO examination, a student receives credit (including AP credit) for any coursework equivalent to the subject matter of an IBO examination, the IBO credits equivalent to the course will be deducted.

USU recognized that other institutions have policies differing from those of USU and that those institutions may evaluate the IBO transcript differently than USU. For this reason, please note that transfer students with IBO credits posted to another institution’s transcript, but who have less than an associate degree, will have their IBO credits reevaluated based on USU’s standards.

International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) Credit Allocation