<p>Is English your first language?<br>
Yes No
If not, what is?
Is English the primary language spoken at home?<br>
Yes No
If not, what is?<br>
If you checked no to either of the questions above, you are required to take and submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). In lieu of TOEFL, students may submit results of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please click here for further information on these tests. </p>
<p>I’m a minority but I was born here and grew up here. However, at home when I am around my family I speak my parent’s native tongue. The TOEFL thing bothers me. Anyone else have this problem?</p>
<p>Yes...I was born abroad, but moved here at an early age. While I speak my native language at home, I'm well versed in English (better than most Americans, it seems-it's a lot, not alot!). I ticked 'Yes' to both questions to save time since everyone in my home knows English and we could just as easily wake up tomorrow and survive on just English. </p>
<p>That question is somewhat confusing in my opinion, and I hope colleges are looking at it. It's on many apps!</p>
<p>Yes, it is on the Common App...either the App itself or the BU Supplement. You have to answer those questions one way or another. I find that as long as your family knows English and can function in the English world, checking 'yes, my primary language is English' is the best bet. </p>
<p>If you know English, the TOEFL isn't hard, but why waste all that time? No ones from BU will survey your house!</p>
<p>If there's no English spoken in your house whatsoever, you could be accused of lying though. It's a fine line I guess.</p>
<p>"Yes, it is on the Common App...either the App itself or the BU Supplement. You have to answer those questions one way or another. I find that as long as your family knows English and can function in the English world, checking 'yes, my primary language is English' is the best bet."
My parents don't really speak that much English</p>
<p>I already sent my common app in, but the common app didn't say that you had to submit TOEFL if your first language was something else.</p>
<p>Did the BU supplement ask for it? I'm pretty sure BU will pop the question some way or the other. </p>
<p>In all honesty, I think it's just the litigious-conscious way of asking, "Do you speak English well enough to function in an English-medium University". And if you know the answer's yes, then by all means, don't take the TOEFL.</p>
<p>Note that based on just those two questions, even international students don't have to take the TOEFL. </p>
<p>If you look at Colleges in the Netherlands, most of them ask you to take Dutch proficiency tests. Same with Germany, Italy, and all the other places I' love to go but am linguistically challenged. Same concept, but this time, the country happens to be the one you live in. If you're proficient, don't bother, and don't take the TOEFL.</p>
<p>yeah, the bu supplement asked for it. however, i want bu to know that i speak more than one language and that's why i'm hesitant to put "yes it is my first language" and "yes i speak it at home." btw, it isn't true on both counts</p>
<p>props to you for remembering your punctuation when typing online. </p>
<p>anyone else in the same situation? i know a lot of you CC posters are minority so please volunteer to answer this question.</p>
<p>French is technically my first language, but I'm born in the States and have lived here all my life, so I did not take the TOEFL, nor do I need to, and I said "no" for the first question. I actually think it can HELP you, not make you seem inferior. If you write well and/or have good CR and W SAT scores it makes you look good rather than incapable of speaking in a college environment.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. And I've witnessed first-hand that people who do well in English without it being their first language benefit in the college admissions process.</p>
<p>I speak Swedish at home, and French is my second language... but I have an 800 on the CR section of the SAT. It seems ridiculous that I should have to take the TOEFL as well--do I really?</p>
<p>i've had similar problems at pretty much every college (in fact, i've been marked down as international at a couple due to a combination of lack of citizenship and english not being my primary language).</p>
<p>but here's what i learned. it doesn't frankly matter. there are two ways, really of solving this. i think officially, there is a thing ur councellor can sign that says that ur proficient in english (if u've taken ESL, especially, but even without that). there's a simpler way - one that doesn't require anything at all. it so happens that it's easy to tell if an applicant is proficient in english. read an essay, look at the SAT's. there's a big difference between someone that doesnt' know english, and someone taht does, but makes a few careless mistakes.</p>
<p>i do recommend it if u just happen to not have done well on the SAT (and by not well, i mean sub 500), and are worried. but for most cases, the college will notify u if it finds that ur english is horrible.</p>
<p>Elizabeth2005, i was in a similar situation (with almost all my colleges). I was born abroad but came here at a young age and have been attending an English speaking school for 10 years now. On those types of questions I gave honest answers (like English is not my first language, but I do speak predominantly English at home), and I called all my colleges about whether I had to take TOEFL or not. ALL of my colleges answered NO! So you won't have to worry about taking it : )</p>