Admission Requirements and Entrance Examinations

To be eligible to apply for a graduate level program, you should have completed, or be about to complete, a first academic or professional degree. In the United States this typically takes four years of university study to complete, giving U.S. students 16 years in total at school and university. If your first academic degree required only three years of study, or if you have completed only 14 or 15 years of school and university study combined, or if your degree study involved courses in only a single technical field, check with an educational adviser about whether you will be eligible for admission to graduate degree programs in the United States. Note that although all U.S. universities follow the same general guidelines, they may differ in the level at which they recognize a particular degree from your country.

Graduate school applicants should also have excellent grades, particularly in the chosen field of study. Most graduate departments require, at a minimum, the equivalent of a U.S. "B" grade average in undergraduate work. Staff at EducationUSA advising centers can tell you the equivalent to this grade average in your own educational system. Proven research ability or relevant work experience also increases your chances of admission at the graduate level.

A basic requirement for successful study in the United States is the ability to communicate in English. If English is not your native language, U.S. universities and colleges will ask you to take an English language proficiency test before admitting you to a degree program. Almost all institutions require that this test be the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A few may accept scores from other examinations or administer their own tests. For further information, check the admissions requirements for international students on the university’s website or contact the admissions office to discuss your situation.

Each institution sets its own English language admissions standard, and some general guidelines on requirements are provided in the section on TOEFL scores below. Some institutions may grant conditional acceptance with the understanding that you must attend English language classes at their college prior to starting your degree program. Once you have reached the required English language level, you will be able to start your studies.

English Requirements and the Student Visa

Once admitted to a U.S. college or university, the institution will send you a SEVIS-issued form (I-20 or DS-2019) required to apply for a student visa at your local U.S. embassy or consulate. This form will state the English language proficiency requirement for your academic program.  This information will be made available to the Consular Officer during your interview for the student visa at the U.S. embassy or consulate.  If the form states that English proficiency is required for your program, your interview will most likely be conducted in English. Keep in mind that in some cases it may be difficult for you to obtain a student visa in your country if you cannot prove sufficient command of the English language to begin study in the United States.  If you are going to pursue an intensive English language study program in the U.S., the SEVIS-issued form (I-20 or DS-2019) will state that English proficiency is not a requirement for your program of study.  In this case, the student visa interview will not be conducted in English.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) measures the ability of nonnative speakers of English to use and understand English as it is spoken, written, and heard in college and university settings. The exam is offered in one of three different formats depending on a test taker's location.  The most current and wide-spread format of the exam is the Internet-based test (iBT); however, in several countries where iBT is not yet available, the Paper-Based Test (PBT) is still offered.

Internet-Based Test Structure and Content

The TOEFL iBT administration generally lasts up to four hours and includes four sections:

Reading: Measures the ability to understand short lectures similar to the academic texts used in schools and universities in North America.

Listening: Measures the ability to understand North American English as it is spoken in an academic setting.

Speaking: Measures the ability to speak English in an academic context.

Writing: Measures the ability to write in English on the assigned theme.  This section is equivalent to the previously-administered Test of Written English (TWE). 

Some of the assigned tasks in the iBT will measure your capacity to combine several of the measured skills.  For example, you may be asked to read, listen and speak your answer to a question.

The Computer-Based TOEFL (CBT) measures English language proficiency in listening, structure, reading and writing.

The Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT) measures listening comprehension; structure and written expression; and reading comprehension. 
For a comparison of the various TOEFL administration formats, click here.

TOEFL Test Centers

The test is administered via Internet; however it is necessary to go to an authorized test center.  The iBT is offered on several days during the month, but only at a limited number of authorized testing centers. You may have to travel some distance to reach the nearest test center.  You can find a complete list of authorized test centers on the TOEFL website.  Please check this site prior to registering for the exam, as new test centers are being added every day.

TOEFL Registration

Pre-registration is required, and it is NOT possible to go to the testing center and hope to find space available that same day. There are four different ways to register for the TOEFL exam:

Internet:  Register online at http://www.ets.org/bin/getprogram.cgi?test=toefl.  In order to register online, you must have an international credit card: American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, or VISA. For more information about online registration, please visit the TOEFL website.
 
Telephone:  Register by telephone by calling the regional registration center which corresponds to your country.  When registering by telephone, you must have a credit card: American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, or VISA.  For more information about telephone registration, please visit the TOEFL website.
 
Mail: Complete the International Test Scheduling Form available on the TOEFL website (www.ets.org/toefl). 
 
Acceptable forms of payment for TOEFL registration area personal check drawn on a U.S. bank account or a money order. Registration forms must be received by ETS or your Regional Registration Center at least four weeks before your requested first-choice test date. For more information about mail registration, please visit the TOEFL website.
 
Local Registration:  For more information on local registration, please visit the TOEFL website.  While registering for the TOEFL, indicate the days when you would prefer to take the test and the test administrators will try to accommodate your request. However, at certain times of the year, or in certain cities, centers may be very busy. It is therefore advisable to register at least two to three months in advance of your desired test date. For those countries where paper-based testing is still offered, the test is given on certain dates during the year, and registration deadlines are approximately six weeks prior to those dates. 
TOEFL registration bulletins are available at the nearest EducationUSA Advising Center or on the TOEFL website.

TOEFL Waivers

If you are a non-U.S. citizen and non-native speaker of English who has been educated in English for most of your school life, your TOEFL requirement may be waived. Allow sufficient time in the application process to correspond with the U.S. university about this issue. U.S. universities will probably not accept secondary school English language examination results as proof of your language ability.   Please contact the nearest EducationUSA Advising Center for more information about TOEFL waivers for your situation.

TOEFL Scores

Each institution decides for itself what score is acceptable for admission. In general, schools consider a total score range of 61-88 for the iBT (equivalent to 173-230 in the CBT and 500-570 in the PBT) as the minimum score for undergraduate studies and 88-100 for the iBT (equivalent to 230-250 in the CBT and 570-600 in the PBT) as the minimum score for graduate studies, depending on the institution and the program.

On the day of the exam, come prepared to the test center with a list of four colleges and universities, as well as their institutional and department code, to which you would like to have sent a copy of your test results.  For a complete list of institutional and department codes, click here.
 
The Internet-Based TOEFL results are available online 15 days after the exam administration date.  The official printed results will arrive via mail to the address indicated in the registration and the universities and program requested up to four weeks after the administration date. 
 
To order additional score reports, visit the TOEFL website Additional Score Reports. Each additional score report costs $17 US.

Preparing to take the TOEFL

Many EducationUSA Advising Centers have TOEFL preparation materials available for onsite consultation, loan, or purchase. Several centers also offer TOEFL preparation courses.  Contact the EducationUSA Advising Center nearest you for more information.

Most graduate admissions departments require satisfactory scores on at least one academic admissions test, either a general aptitude test such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test or a demonstration of proficiency in your field (GRE Subject Test), or sometimes both.

Most graduate departments require scores from either a general aptitude test such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test, a demonstration of proficiency in a specific field such as a GRE Subject Test, or both.
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is required almost without exception for applicants to business schools. The Miller Analogy Tests (MAT) may also be required in fields such as education and psychology. These tests are in addition to an English language proficiency examination.

Professional schools such as schools of law, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine have special examinations; see "Specialized Professional Study," for further information.

You should plan to take the appropriate examinations one year prior to when you hope to start your graduate program. Contact your nearest EducationUSA advising center for information, registration, and test preparation materials. For more information on testing, go to the Testing section.