Answering Questions from International Students Here!

@BDstudent Yes, in general. However there are schools that give good merit schoalrship to int kids like U of Alabama and Howard U.

@paul2752 Is Howard public?

No

I’ts one of the mos respected private, historically black college/university.

My SAT scores are 800 math 720 writing and 790 reading, i was wondering how important is the TOEFL for colleges that state that they recommend but not require it?

DON"T use TOEFL. Use your SAT score since your CR is well above average both non native speakers AND native English speakers.

Yeah but for some reason some schools still require me to take the toefl if i intend to apply.

Which schools? I was never required to send TOEFL.
Did you call the school?

Im an international student

So far nyu and usc but i need to send mails to some more

Any suggestions?

If the school says it recommends but doesn’t require TOEFL, you should be fine given your SAT scores. If you’re uncertain, email each school and ask whether NOT having TOEFL could hurt your chances of admission. And obviously, if the school requires the exam, you have no choice but to take it. Or apply elsewhere.

Usually schools will waive the requirement if you tell them you studied at a school where the primary language of instruction was English. But if it wasn’t, then it is highly unlikely they would waive the TOEFL because there are speaking and listening components to it.

My school’s primary language wasn’t English, but the I am an american citizen. The reason im trying to avoid taking the toefl is because i know for a fact my score wont reflect my knowledge. I have a severe case of ADHD which means I tend to zone out pretty often, not to mention my spelling is horrible (even in the language that my school’s instructions were). I dont stand a chance in a test that checks spelling, so i dont really know what to do.

Btw, thank you for the last comment. I was trying to get that info for weeks.

Now if your first language is English (since you are an American citizen? although this doesn’t tell me that), then you are not required to submit the TOEFL either.

We spoke two languages in my house as grew older, English and Hebrew. How can i know which is my first?

@International95 how does it work?

Um, what did you learn first when you were a child? I learned Italian when I was 5, simply because I was in Italy until age 9, and I speak and understand it as well as English (and of course this means I speak Spanish as well). But I learned to speak English first (my first words were in English), so Italian is my second language. So I would put English as my first language, and Italian as my second language. Idk if you can have two first languages…

So can i just say english is my first if i started both roughly the same time? @International95

Sure.