<p>Has anyone ever actually had to take this exam despite being fluent in English? </p>
<p>I'm neither a citizen nor a native speaker, but I'm fluent and have been living in the US for nearly twenty years with a green card. </p>
<p>My guess is that no reasonable school would make me take the TOEFL, but I'm not sure because some school websites (for example, University of Michigan) simply say that students whose native language is not English will have to take it.</p>
<p>Yes, if your native language is not English, you still need to take the TOEFL. They wouldn’t know from reading your application that you’ve been living in the US for over 20 years. If you can communicate fluently, then you shouldn’t have too much trouble acing that exam.</p>
<p>If you have a college degree from an accredited US institution, many, if not most, programs will waive the TOEFL. You’ll have to check with individual programs, since some are ridiculous in their TOEFL requirements for non-native speakers.</p>
<p>Further question: does OP possibly need to take the TOEFL because of his/her not being born in the US? Or is it actually because of English because their second language.</p>
<p>[Sorry to butt in on your thread, OP, but I had never thought about this. English is my third language even though I was born in the US and have been speaking English fluently for 13 years now.]</p>
<p>“I’m fluent and have been living in the US for nearly twenty years with a green card.”</p>
<p>Each college/university sets its own policy about the TOEFL. You do need to contact each of them separately about this. Many have their own in-house exams that can be used instead of the TOEFL for people with histories like yours. Others won’t require a TOEFL score if you have a particular score on the GRE/GMAT/Miller Analogies or whatever other admissions exam they require.</p>
<p>Hah, I’m glad I asked; I will make sure to check with each school before I apply!</p>