<p>I am a senior in Mechanical Engineering. I am very eager to apply for The Mechanical Engineering PhD program at US universities.</p>
<p>As you may know, the usual minimum requirement for the TOEFL iBT score for Mechanical Engineering departments is around 79 or 80. Mine is 86 with a score of 26 in the speaking section.</p>
<p>I would like to know if passing the minimum requirement is enough or not.
It is worth mentioning that I have five publications (one book (in press), 1 journal paper and 3 conference papers). My CGPA is 17.7/20 and I am studying Chemistry beside Mechanical Eng. as my second major. In fact I would like to know if other sections of my resume will compensate the TOEFL score or not.
Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>Have you asked a couple of graduate programs? They’d probably tell you!</p>
<p>I had similar questions about the role of verbal GRE scores for PhD admissions in math. Professors from several different universities told me that verbal scores don’t enter into the decision making process unless they are low enough to raise concerns about my ability to communicate. The most commonly named threshold was 500 points (on the old scale). </p>
<p>I imagine that TOEFL scores work much the same way. There’s a perceived threshold below which the people reading your application might have concerns. That threshold is probably higher than the minimum standards for admission. </p>
<p>To be honest, 86 is actually quite low. The better universities usually require at least 100 points for admission to their undergraduate programs, and the graduate programs I applied to had the same minimum requirements. Penn’s math program also reported that the average iBT score of their admitted international students is 116. (The minimum is 100.)</p>
<p>Another potential concern is that many universities would not let you teach with your current TOEFL score, even if it meets the minimum standards for admission. If you don’t have your own funding, your adviser or department might expect you to TA.</p>