<p>I'm a fifteen year-old international student, and a rising tenth grader. I go to a British school in my country where pretty much all of our classes are in English. However, in my country, we only have 11 instead of 12 years of school. I want to apply to a university in the US and my reach school is Stanford. It says on their website (and on many other college websites as well) that international students are strongly recommended to take the TOEFL exam, which is basically a test for students whose first language isn't English. Since I'm going to be taking my SAT's next June ( and hope to receive a good score) , and attend a school where English is the primary language, do i still need to take the TOEFL exam? it wouldnt make sense for me to take an "english-as-a-foreign-language" test since I'm already taking a test that students in the US take. Anyone?</p>
<p>You should be fine without it.</p>
<p>@spiral: please don’t answer if you don’t know. This isn’t a matter of opinion, but of fact. </p>
<p>@nutellalover123 : most schools will require the TOEFL even if your school is British-patterned and you’ve been taught in English if your country is not on the list of “English-speaking countries” such as New Zealand, Canada outside of Quebec, etc. Policies vary for India and South Africa and may hinge on the language you’ve been taught in (say, Afrikaans vs. English). However, some schools waive the requirement for students whose schools teach in English, regardless of a country’s language(s), others waive it only if you reach a certain score on the SAT, while others still won’t waive it under any circumstance. Some colleges may even require it from American citizens who’ve been educated abroad.
So: 1° assume you’ll have to take it and prepare for it (it should take you 2 weeks tops if you’re bilingual) AND 2° read the “international students => English requirement” page for EACH college, since there is no uniform policy and each college will have its rule.
For Stanford, they “strongly recommend” the TOEFL for all international students whose NATIVE language is not English (ie., no provisions are made for students whose schooling is in English and are bilingual) - and that means you’ll be at a very marked disadvantage compared to others since you didn’t bother taking one of the tests they want.</p>
<p>Finally, if your country stops after Secondaire5 or IGCSE’s, it’s highly recommended you complete the extra two years (Cegep, A-Levels) to be competitive for the university.</p>
<p>BTW, taking the TOEFL and either the ACT or the SAT is the norm for international students.</p>
<p>Yeah, U will certainly fine without it, i am an international student from West africa, and i practically waived all my TOEFL requirements , under a superficial mainly english speaking school. I know people from my school who got into stanford,and non of them took the SAT. It just isn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>It depends on schools. You can’t draw conclusions. Nutellalover really has to check with each school on his/her list, first by checking the website, then, if the language is ambiguous, by emailing the Admissions Office between now and November. </p>
<p>^ Might “I know people from my school who got into Stanford” be a generalization? Even if your school is the #1 ranked school in your country (which it well may be) Stanford is unlikely to admit several of them. Typically 1-4 admissions from a single West African country is considered pretty good, and they’d be unlikely to all come from the same school. The same is true for most Western and Central European countries.
“None of them took the SAT” = do you mean “took the TOEFL”? There are no waivers for the SAT. Stanford wants the SAT and SAT subjects (“recommended” but unless you’re a nationally ranked athlete or an International Olympiad/Siemens winner, you better take them.)</p>
<p>Thank you 
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