Does McMaster University accept Economics HL?

💡Expert's Take

“HIGH-VALUE CREDIT: SKIPS TWO MANDATORY COURSES (BUT WATCH YOUR GPA)

The Good News: McMaster's Faculty of Social Sciences may grant IB Economics HL (grade 5+) as equivalent to ECON 1B03 (Microeconomics) + ECON 1BB3 (Macroeconomics). This gives you 6 units of specific credit and clears the prerequisites for many Level II Economics courses.

The Strategy for Economics Majors: If you plan to major in Honours Economics, be careful. Admission to Level II Honours often looks at your grade in these two courses. Since transfer credits appear as a "T" (no grade), you won't have a GPA from these core classes.

Action: Ask an academic advisor if you should retake one or both to establish a strong GPA foundation for admission to Honours.

The Strategy for Non-Majors: If you are in Political Science, Sociology, or Sciences, this is a fantastic credit. It fulfills your social science elective requirements and gives you a free pass on two content-heavy intro courses.

Warning for Business Students: DeGroote says it does not grant transfer credit for business-related IB courses. Business I students should plan to take ECON 1B03 and 1BB3 at McMaster unless DeGroote confirms an exception.

Bottom Line: For Social Sciences students, this is a "Golden Ticket" credit—specific, useful, and time-saving.”