English Proficiency Requirement

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All applicants whose first language is not English or who are educated outside of the U.S. for secondary school (high school) or university are required to show proof of English proficiency to meet our English requirement.

Acceptable evidence of proficiency includes official exam scores from any of the following testing centers:
Test ExamEnglish Proficiency RequirementSend Scores to Wentworth
TOEFL79 on the IBT TOEFL with no subsection lower than 17ETS TOEFL
School Code: 3958
IELTS Academic6.5 minimum overall score, with no subscore below 5.5IELTS
Duolingo English Test (DET)105 on the DETDET

TOEFL, IELTS Academic, and DET exam scores are valid for two years. SAT and ACT test scores are valid for five years. Scores that are older will not be accepted.

Exceptions:

  • Students whose secondary education took place in one of these English-speaking countries are exempt from the English proficiency requirement. Students with a Bachelor's Degree from one of these countries are also exempt. 
    • Antigua & Barbuda 
    • Australia
    • The Bahamas 
    • Bahrain
    • Barbados 
    • Belize 
    • Bermuda
    • Botswana
    • Canada
    • Cayman Islands 
    • Dominica 
    • Eswatini
    • Fiji 
    • Ghana 
    • Grenada 
    • Guyana 
    • Ireland 
    • Jamaica 
    • Kenya 
    • Lesotho
    • Liberia
    • Malawi
    • Marshall Islands 
    • Micronesia 
    • New Zealand 
    • Nigeria 
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Sierra Leone
    • Solomon Islands 
    • St. Kitts & Nevis 
    • St. Lucia 
    • St. Vincent & the Grenadines 
    • Tanzania
    • Trinidad & Tobago 
    • Turks & Caicos 
    • Uganda
    • United Kingdom
    • United States of America 
    • Virgin Islands
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Proof of students who have been taking college-preparatory English classes for at least three years at an English language-based high school, and obtain a grade of ‘C’ or higher (ex: a U.S. high school, an American high school abroad, etc.).
  • A “C” (2.0) or higher grade in English I and English II on an official transcript from a U.S. college or university.
  • Wentworth has agreements with the following schools of English as a second language, allowing students to get accustomed to living in Boston while finalizing their English Language Proficiency requirements. Our preferred schools are Approach ISC and ASC English:​​
  • ASC English - Level 5
  • Approach ISC - ESL Level B2 (Upper-Intermediate)
  • CELOP at Boston University – Level 8 Advanced (grade of 3.0 or higher)
  • EC Boston – Pre-Advanced Level
  • EF International – Level C1-1
  • ELS – Level 112
  • Embassy CES (StudyGroup) – Level 6
  • English Language Center – combined Grammar and Composition level of 1200 or greater
  • FLS International – Level 18
  • GEOS Language Institute – Level 6
  • New England School of English – Level 10 in all subject areas
  • Stafford House (Boston Academy of English) – Level 6
  • Target International School – Level 5
  • The Language Company – Level 9 with at least an 80%

*All students who choose to pursue this route in place of a TOEFL/IELTS/DET exam will need to provide a letter of recommendation from the respective center director or English teacher.

For more information, please contact:

Office of Admissions
Wentworth Institute of Technology
550 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone: 617-989-4000 or 800-556-0610
Fax: 617-989-4010
E-mail: admissions@wit.edu