Which universities and countries accept the Duolingo English Test?

Thousands of universities and programs across more than 100 countries accept the Duolingo English Test as proof of English proficiency, including well-known institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Ireland. Acceptance is decided program by program, so the reliable way to confirm is Duolingo’s official acceptance list plus the admissions page of the specific course you are applying to.

Several thousand institutions and programs worldwide now accept it, and the number has grown every year since universities began taking at-home tests during 2020. Because the list changes as new institutions are added, treat any fixed count you see online as out of date and check the current official list.

Some UK universities accept it and many do not. Of the 24 well-known UK universities we checked on their own websites on 5 October 2026, 8 accept the DET — among them Imperial (115), Warwick (110 undergraduate), Durham (120), Exeter (110) and Southampton (120) — and 2 accept it only for some courses. The other 14 do not list it, including Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, King’s College London, LSE, Edinburgh and Manchester. Where it is accepted, also check whether your visa route needs a Secure English Language Test (SELT).

Yes, widely for undergraduates and less so for graduate study. Of the 46 US universities we checked on 5 October 2026, 42 accept the DET for undergraduate admission, most often with a minimum of 115 or 120 (Michigan, Texas A&M and Florida do not, and Georgia Tech takes it only as a supplement). At graduate level only 23 of 43 graduate schools accept it; the graduate schools of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley and UCLA do not. Each program sets its own minimum, so confirm the number on its admissions page.

For undergraduate study, yes: all 18 Canadian universities we checked accept it, usually at 120 (UBC and McGill ask for 125). Graduate schools are stricter — 7 of 17 do not accept it, including Toronto and McGill. For immigration it does not count: Express Entry accepts CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training or PTE Core for English, not the DET. So the DET can get you admitted, but not through a PR application.

Rarely, among the big universities. Of the 12 Australian universities we checked on 5 October 2026, only two accept it, both with limits: the University of Western Australia (125, for courses at its minimum English standard) and Macquarie (125, for foundation, exchange and remote applicants). The other ten — including Melbourne, Sydney, UNSW, Monash and ANU — do not; Melbourne, ANU and RMIT say they do not accept at-home tests at all.

Only programme by programme. None of the eight German universities we checked accepts it university-wide: TUM, RWTH Aachen, Heidelberg, Mannheim and KIT do not list it (KIT says so outright), while a few individual programmes do — three LMU master’s programmes (100–130), one TU Berlin master’s (135) and Göttingen’s English BA (120). Check the exact programme page before relying on it.

Mostly yes. Seven of the eight Irish universities we checked accept it — Trinity, UCD, UCC, DCU, Limerick, Maynooth and TU Dublin — almost all with the same bar: 120 overall with at least 110 in each subscore (Trinity asks for 100 in each). The University of Galway says it no longer accepts Duolingo for entry. Some courses ask for more, so verify on the program page.

Often, depending on where you apply. In the US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand most universities in our checked list accept the DET for undergraduate admission. In the UK about 10 of 24 do, in Australia only 2 of 12 (both with limits), and among leading universities in continental Europe and Asia it is rare. What it does not replace is the specific test some visas, immigration programs and professional bodies require.

For undergraduate admission in the US, mostly yes: MIT (minimum 120), Columbia (135), and Brown, Cornell, Caltech and Duke (130) all accept it. Selective universities tend to ask for 125–135 rather than 115–120. Elsewhere and at graduate level, many do not: Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and LSE do not list it, and neither do the graduate schools at Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Berkeley. Check the exact program page.

It depends on the country. For admission, the DET is widely accepted; for the visa English requirement, rules vary — the UK’s UKVI SELT rules and Australia’s subclass 500 requirements are the two to check carefully. In many cases the university’s acceptance is enough; in some visa routes a specific approved test is required.

Generally no. Canadian Express Entry, for example, accepts only CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training or PTE Core for English (Canada.ca, checked 5 October 2026), and other countries specify their own approved tests for residence and work. The DET is built for and accepted by academic admissions; do not assume it covers an immigration application.

As a rough guide, many undergraduate programs ask for around 105–120, and competitive and graduate programs often want 120 or above on the 10–160 scale. That maps to roughly IELTS 6.0–7.0. The exact number is set by each program — our DET score comparison shows how any DET score lines up with IELTS, TOEFL and CEFR.

Sometimes — far less often than for undergraduate study. In our checked list, 23 of 43 US graduate schools and 10 of 17 Canadian ones accept it; many leading graduate schools accept only TOEFL or IELTS. Where it is accepted, the minimum is usually 115–125, and departments can ask for more. Always read the graduate school’s own requirement, which is often separate from the undergraduate one.

Some do. If a university gives you an Application ID, add it when you share your score from your Duolingo English Test account so the result is matched to your application. Sharing a score is not the same as applying — you still apply to each institution yourself — and the score must still be within its two-year validity on the deadline; you can check any date with our score validity checker.

Three steps. First, search Duolingo’s official acceptance list for the institution. Second, open the admissions or English-requirements page for the exact program and look for “Duolingo English Test” and its minimum score. Third, if it is not mentioned, email the admissions office and ask directly — lists lag behind decisions, and a program may accept it before it appears everywhere.

For undergraduate admission, all eight do in some form: Columbia asks for a minimum of 135, Brown and Cornell 130; Yale, Penn and Dartmouth set no minimum but describe 120, 130 and 135 as competitive; Princeton sets none; Harvard College takes it only as optional extra evidence. Graduate admission differs: the graduate schools at Harvard, Yale, Brown and Cornell accept only TOEFL or IELTS (checked 5 October 2026).

No. Neither lists the Duolingo English Test among the English tests it accepts, for undergraduate or graduate admission — Oxford says it can only accept the tests on its list. The same is true of UCL, King’s College London and LSE. Imperial (115), Warwick, Durham, Exeter and Southampton are among the UK universities that do accept it (checked 5 October 2026).

In our list (checked 5 October 2026), these accept a DET overall of 105 or lower for at least one level: Arizona State University (US, undergraduate, 95); Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) (Germany, postgraduate, Master Evolution, Ecology and Systematics only, 100); Arizona State University (US, postgraduate, 105); Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand, undergraduate, 105); Concordia University (Canada, undergraduate, 105); Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) (Germany, postgraduate, M.Sc. Psychology: Learning Sciences only, 105); Northeastern University (US, postgraduate, College of Engineering only, 105); Stony Brook University (SUNY) (US, undergraduate, 105); University of Texas at Dallas (US, undergraduate, 105); University of Texas at Dallas (US, postgraduate, 105); University at Buffalo (SUNY) (US, undergraduate, 105); University of Canterbury (Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha) (New Zealand, undergraduate, 105); University of Hertfordshire (UK, undergraduate, 105); University of Otago (New Zealand, undergraduate, 105); Victoria University of Wellington (Te Herenga Waka) (New Zealand, undergraduate, 105). Most universities ask for 115–120, so a 105 narrows the choice — and individual programmes can ask for more.