Chicago - TOEFL

[sesostris]

Hi again, I have a doubt regarding the TOEFL requirements. Most grad schools just put a global requirement and they do not mention any specifics. Most ask for a score of at least.

I have 111 points (over 120), and I have 30 30 29 in the reading, listening and writing sections. My weak spot is the speaking: 22 points.

In Chicago they ask for at least 26 in each section. Do you think that this requirement really holds if I have a good aggregated result? 

Would that 22 hurt me in other universities even if I have a 111?

By the way, my verbal score from the GRE is a 166. Would that help into them ignoring the weak parts of the TOEFL?

Thank you!

 

[Warelin]

The tricky thing here is that minimum score requirements are often set by the Graduate School, and not the department. If a school states a score, then the office of admissions has determined that that score is what’s necessary to perform well in that school’s curriculum.

There's a good chance since the scores are stated as required that not meeting them for every section will cause your application to be cut during the first round of interviews? Unfair? Probably. However, schools do receive a lot of applications and need to find a way to cut down the reviewed applications.

It might also be beneficial to e-mail the school to inquire within. The GRE doesn't test the basics of English so it's a bit unfair to use it as a comparison point.

ETA: Chicago is /huge/ on discussion based classrooms at all-levels of their studies. There's likely a good reason why they're interested in people who can specifically score higher on some sections. The debates in classes can get really intense even at the undergraduate level. I'd imagine that they'd be much more intense at the grad level which is why they've set scores the way they have.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Warelin