Entering students may be granted credits and/or advanced course placement for the successful completion of the Advanced Placement (AP) examination given by the Educational Testing Service of the College Entrance Examination Board, the International Baccalaureate, the Swiss Matura, or the completion of course work at an accredited college or university.

AP credit and/or advanced course placement is awarded for AP exam scores of 4 or 5. Almost all exam topics are accepted with a few exceptions such as Latin and the fine arts.  Click here [pdf] for more information about acceptable exams and scores. There is no limit to the amount of AP credit any one student can transfer to Babson.

IB credit and/or advanced course placement is awarded for scores of 5 or better in Higher Level IB courses. Accepted IB courses at the higher level include: Language A (English only), Language A2 (English only), Language B, History, History of the Islamic World, Mathematics, and Theater Arts. Click here [pdf] to see all acceptable IB courses and scores.

Swiss Maturité credit and/or advanced course placement is awarded for scores of 4 or better.

College course work completed while in high school will be considered for credit if the course(s) was offered by an accredited college or university, taught by a college professor, and the credits for the course(s) were not counted toward the student’s high school diploma and do not appear on the high school transcript. The course also must either be in a class made up of primarily college students or be delivered on, or in the case of distance or blended learning, from a college campus. This policy will become effective for students first enrolled as of September 2008.

Coursework Taken Elsewhere After Enrollment

Once students enroll at Babson (by the May 1st Candidate's Reply Date), they must take all of their coursework on campus, with limited exceptions, such as: cross-enrollment programs, or at approved Babson education abroad programs.  In addition, students may take a maximum of 12 credits off campus (exclusive of official cross-enrollment or approved education abroad programs).

Students who wish to take courses in the summer between their high school graduation and the start of their first year at Babson may do so, however, these courses will officially count toward the 12 credit limit for off campus courses.  These credits are limited to courses not offered at Babson.  Once the credits are complete, students must submit the official transcript of the institution attended.  Students who wish to take more courses than this limit allows may do so for enrichment purposes only; a maximum of 12 credits will be awarded to a student's degree.

To take advantage of these summer courses and to ensure that credit will be awarded, students must obtain prior approval for any course they plan to take from the Office of Academic Services.  Two weeks' notice is required for all off campus approval requests to ensure adequate time for review. 

Click here for more information on the off-campus approval process.

Please note: Babson College reserves the right to change these policies at any time, and without notice.