TOEFL for international applicants

I’m a international student applying to UPenn and other competitive schools. UPenn says that most accepted students tend to score 100 or above on TOEFL iBT, and I got 100 on my first attempt. Should I take another test? Or do they just use them as a cut-off? Also please tell me if you know someone who got accepted to competitive schools with TOEFL score lower than their expectations. Thanks.

Congrats on your 100–it is a very decent score. But I think you should take it again just to see if you can improve. A lot of applicants to schools like Penn do have TOEFL scores over 100 or 110.

Don’t worry about TOEFL. It’s a requirement, and as long as you get above their minimum, you’re good. It’s not like the SAT, in that way. Trust me, I come from a school that sends people to great colleges, but I never heard of anyone getting rejected because of their TOEFL score.

Totally disagree. Once you hit the minimum, you’re good. TOEFL is similar to getting a drivers license; nobody cares what score you received on the test as long as you’ve achieved the requirement.