Minimum IELTS score to study in a USA university in 2025 | IDP Vietnam

U.S. F-1 student visa hopefuls should be aiming for an average minimum IELTS band score between 6.5 to 7.5, if they’re looking to pursue full-time academic studies in the ranks of the country’s massive choice of colleges and universities. 

However, students who have the desire to enter some of the world’s top universities need to aim for a higher IELTS score overall to stand out among the candidates, which means strengthening your IELTS preparation for the IELTS Academic test. 

The international standards and academic reputation of U.S. higher education institutions are undisputed and widely respected, so it’s crucial to find out all admission details that will help you through an application season. 

There are three main intakes in the USA typically: spring (classes start in January), summer (in May), and Fall (in September). The U.S. Department of State, EducationUSA, advises at least one to one-and-a-half years of planning ahead prior to the academic year you hope to attend. 

Times Higher Education (THE) is one of the three most established organizations responsible for the publication of global university rankings each year. 

The organization boasts highly extensive and sophisticated performance indicators to provide the most balanced and objective comparisons across all eligible universities in that particular year. 

There are five key performance indicators that can be categorized into five aspects: teaching, research quality, research environment, industry income, and international outlook. 

In the 2025 rankings this year, nine US universities retain their spots in the global top 15. This includes powerhouse institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale, to name a few. 

Here’s a more in-depth look into the minimum IELTS requirements for the top universities under the 2025 THE World University Rankings. 

Alongside Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is also among the top three most established and internationally acclaimed ranking systems. 

This ranking system has a different set of assessment criteria that contribute to a university’s final score in the global performance tables.  

 Its eight key metrics include academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, faculty-to-student ratio, international student ratio and international faculty ratio, international research network, employment outcomes, and sustainability. All of these play a crucial part in determining how an institution is perceived on a global scale.  

In 2025, 10 universities made it to the top 20 of QS World University Rankings including Ivy League universities such as the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale,e and Columbia.  

Here are the minimum IELTS requirements for American universities according to the QS world ranking system. 

 Further your studies in the United States with IDP! 

Now that you have an idea of the minimum requirements needed to apply to top universities in the U.S., the next step would be to book IELTS to satisfy the English test requirement to study abroad! 

As a co-owner of the IELTS test, IDP has decades of experience in helping students to prepare and achieve their target IELTS score for studying abroad. 

Prepare for IELTS with the all-in-one IDP IELTS Prep Hub and earn a top score for Australia’s universities and immigration. Learn how to tackle the different sections of the English test, use official IELTS Academic practice tests, and hear from IELTS experts through video podcasts. 

Book your IELTS test today!