<p>Today, I was looking at some schools' requirements for first year students. They require you to take the TOEFL if English is your second language, even if you have lived in the United States and went to an American high school. I have lived in the US all of my life and I am fluent in English, because I also went to school here. Are you serious that I have to take the TOEFL?</p>
<p>If you have lived in the US all of your life why do YOU think English is your second language?</p>
<p>Because I learned Vietnamese with my Vietnamese parents at home, first.</p>
<p>Don’t the schools you’ve looked at require that only for international applicants? If not, which schools have you looked at?</p>
<p>It was UMich-Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.admissions.umich.edu/about/]Office”>Explore & Visit | University of Michigan Office of Undergraduate Admissions]Office</a> of Undergraduate Admissions: About Michigan<a href=“It’s%20under%20Freshman%20Admissions%20Criteria”>/url</a></p>
<p>Well, that’s Michigan for you. I checked UW-Madison and it’s only under the international applicant section. I don’t think you should consider English your 2nd language and I don’t think Michigan would either. I presume you speak/read at least as much English as Vietnamese now. My kids now in hs have had two Vietnamese kids of immigrant parents in their classes since kindergarten. They speak some Vietnamese at home now but no way would anyone ever question their English.</p>
<p>I speak Vietnamese at home, but I don’t know how to write or read in it at all. In elementary school, I was forced to take ESL classes until 4th Grade, but that was about it.</p>