19
Credit Policies
5.0
Avg. Min Grade
$21,474
Total Potential Savings
Universities Accepting Biology HL
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Expert's Insight: "A BIG CREDIT WIN: BUT KNOW WHAT IT DOES (AND DOESN'T) REPLACE" The official win: With a 6 or 7 in IB Biology HL, UBC grants BIOL_V 1st-year level (8 credits) and exempts you from BIOL_V 111, BIOL_V 121, and BIOL_V 180. (See UBC's official IB transfer credit table: UBC First-Year Credit (IB).) The n...
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology at the University of Alberta: HL earns you one of the cleanest transfer credits in the chart. SL, unfortunately, gets you nothing. Either way, the credit is only as useful as the strategy behind it. IB Biology HL Score requirement: UAlberta awards transfer credit only for a ...
McGill University
Montreal, QC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take McGill grants exemption from both BIOL 111 and BIOL 112 (6 credits total) for IB Biology HL with a score of 5 or higher. In theory, this clears the prerequisite for BIOL 200 (Molecular Biology) in your first semester. But the real gatekeeper is not Biology—it is Chemistry. The hi...
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL earns 3 units at the University of Ottawa — but as a generic BIO 1XXX elective, not as either of the two specific first-year Biology courses your science program actually requires. That distinction matters far more than the unit count. The credit lands on your trans...
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL earns 6 credit units at USask: BIOL 120.3 plus one unit of junior-level biology credit (BIOL JR 3). This gives you one named introductory biology course and one generic junior-level credit, but not the full named introductory pair, since BIOL 121.3 is a separate required ...
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Yes — all three U of T campuses award 1.0 credit for IB Biology HL with a score of 5 or higher, and the credit is accepted for program admission, program requirements, and prerequisite purposes at every campus. At the St. George campus specifically, pairing this credit with IB Ch...
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON
Expert's Insight: McMaster's official IB equivalency table maps Biology HL to BIOLOGY 1A03 and BIOLOGY 1M03, with the general IB policy requiring a final HL score of 5 or higher. The Academic Calendar caps total IB advanced credit at 18 units, and each award is granted "at the discretion of each Faculty." The mapping...
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON
Expert's Insight: Waterloo's BIOL 239 is a notorious step up in complexity from IB Genetics. That 5 might get you the credit, but you'll be expected to know the material cold for upper-year labs.
Western University
London, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL earns both courses in Western's first-year Biology sequence , the prerequisite pair that gates entry into senior Biology courses and modules offered by the Department of Biology and the Basic Medical Science Departments. The two courses , Biology 1001A and Biology 1002B ,...
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Guelph awards BIOL*1070 Discovering Biodiversity (0.50 credits) for IB Biology HL with a final score of 5 or above. This is a specified exact equivalent, not a generic placeholder, which means it counts directly toward degree requirements wherever BIOL*1070 appears in a Schedule of Stu...
York University
Toronto, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL at 5 or better is listed on York's IB exemptions and credits table as SC/BIOL 1000 3.0 plus SC/BIOL 1001 3.0, which is a named-course award rather than generic junior-level credit. York frames the table as a guide and states that transfer credit is "assessed based each st...
Queen's University
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Queen's grants BIOL 102 + BIOL 103 (6.0 units) for IB Biology HL with a score of 5 or higher in six of its seven faculties, but Health Sciences students need a score of 6+ to use those credits as prerequisites, and Smith Engineering students receive no credit at all. The credit itself ...
Queen's University (Smith Engineering)
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: ⚠️ ENGINEERING STUDENT ALERT: Engineering Faculty grants NO transfer credit for IB Biology HL. Your score (5, 6, or 7) does not convert to Queen's Biology courses and does not count toward your degree requirements. Do not rely on this credit for Engineering. If you took IB Bio HL as an elective, it ...
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take A strong 8-unit credit covering SFU's full introductory biology sequence, and real tuition savings. IB Biology HL earns you BISC 101 (4 units) + BISC 102 (4 units), the same two courses required as lower-division prerequisites for the Biological Sciences major, honours, and related pro...
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL earns you a full first-year biology sequence at UVic, and the score bar is lower than most students expect. A score of 4 or higher awards both BIOL 184 (Evolution and Biodiversity) and BIOL 186 (Physiology and Cell Biology), UVic's paired introductory sequence, worth 3.0 ...
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Biology HL earns you BIOL 211, a real named course, not a generic placeholder, but it only gets you halfway to the genetics gateway that unlocks UCalgary's upper-year biology programs. The credit is Biology 211 (Biomolecules and Cellular Systems), a 3-unit lecture-plus-lab introduct...
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take A score of 5 or higher in Biology HL is eligible for Dalhousie transfer credit, with the official award being both courses in the Principles of Biology first-year sequence: BIOL 1010 and BIOL 1011, for a total of 6 credit hours. Dalhousie states that students wishing to continue in Bio...
Carleton University
Ottawa, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Carleton awards IB Biology HL (5+) as a named equivalency for BIOL 1103 + BIOL 1104 (1.0 credit), not generic 1XXX elective credit. That puts Biology HL in a stronger category than most of Carleton's IB awards, which are unspecified placeholders (see the Carleton IB transfer credit tab...
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take The score sets the size of the award, not just whether you get one. A 4 at HL earns BIOL 1001 only; a 5 earns the full first-year sequence (BIOL 1001 + 1002). Standard Level earns no credit per the IB transfer credit chart. The award only covers the first-year Biology lectures. Lab-bas...