Retake TOEFL 107?

Question

R=29
W=28
L=27
S=23

Hi everybody,

I know that 107 is somehow acceptable except for Harvard, which is not on my list of course. But, Since I think my score, especially speaking is not demonstrative of my real capacity, I'm much tempted to retake it. My speaking score came as thunderbolt of surprise to me. My question is that does a 115+ vs 107 buy you any competitive edge in the PhD admission for the top 20 Bschools? Does anybody know how each skill is of different importance to the adcom? Is speaking more important than writing, e.g.? Should I worry about it? Should I retake it? please be bitterly realistic.

PS. I had planned to write a debrief before my exam since I have much experience with English (attended my first EFL class 12 years ago and started teaching 5 years ago), but ashamed of my score, I gave it up :oops:

ravsg · Answer

I know someone who had very low scores in TOEFL. They were accepted in PhD in Finance in Cornell. Were made to take a mandatory class on English. Your score looks fine to me. TOEFL is not a major criterion ....

AN225 · Answer

Look, I read Anderson is very picky about TOEFL coz they want to make sure their students can communicate effectively.
On one hand your score is great. On another, a uni concern can be your relatively low speaking score. therefore, to sleep better, why don't you contact an adcom and ask their opinion - shall you retake the score or not?

PranavChamp · Answer

same here...got overall 105 but only 22 in speaking :-o

I thought speaking as my stronger section going into the class...but it reflects otherwise on score. now i am also in same dilemma...whether to retake it or not.

AN225 · Answer

Gents, although adcoms generally claim that TOEFL is just a tick on your application, there are some hidden traps. Haas' average is 113, Cornell requires min 25 in each section.... Therefore, do you need to gamble on that easy part of the application? Take just a week of study, practice stuff and re-take the test. Videos recommended in a sticky topic are more than enough to boost your scores.

PranavChamp · Answer

yeah you r right...but prob is with priority...I am already preparing to retake GMAT and have to cross 700 mark...apart from that these essays stuff...

saeedt · Answer

Retaking the TOEFL is great but as PranavChamp noted, I don't have enough time. I didn't know about Cornel but Ross and UC Irvine also demand a 26+ speaking. I contacted Ross. They said my 23 doesn't hinder my application from being considered. But to be honest, I can't believe them. When they boldly state in their site that the minimum is 26, they have good reasons to disregard your application without feeling guilt-ridden. The only problem here is the acceptance rate race taking place among top school. That makes me skeptical to what Ross told me. They just want to raise their application number. You can become a victim of this cause. Ooh, I'm feeling guilt-ridden toward Ross by saying this. Anyway, I believe putting such high cut-points is not prudent at all. They want PhD students, not orators! Am I not right? Are we supposed to do research or give speeches like a native? I hope some adcom would read it. I for one am fluent with English. Believe it, but I need some minutes to gain my fluency and TOEFL just gives you 45 or 60 seconds. Just as soon as my speaking engine starts, I have to turn it off. It's disgusting. I wish I took IELTS. Who knows, maybe if my near-to-exam CATs indicate that I'm approaching 720+, I will retake the TOEFL. But if I understand that my score is likely to be 700 or less (God forbid), my TOEFL score would suffice for the schools my 700 or lower suffices. My problem is that I'm taking GMAT in late November. So even if I score 760 in the real exam, regarding the time needed for applications, I won't have enough time to retake the TOEFL and report the scores. Aaaaaah, for the time being, everything is bound to the score from my bosom friend, Dr. GMAT. I love you Dr. :shock:

Any idea, pals?

AN225 · Answer

Look, universities need students who at least can communicate. At least, coz for your success you'll need to sell yourself to McKinsey, Morgan Stanley or whomever else you gonna apply at after MBA. FYI Ross' yield is second to Harvard, so it does not need to play games.

Second, speaking 26 is just a normal speaking level, not a BBC dictors'-like standard!

Third, efforts to improve your Speaking score are so small... write 6 cards with 6 speaking templates (using edu videos), and practice them 20-40 min while going to/from work.

PranavChamp · Answer

Saeed,

you are comparing the wrong entities here...if your TOEFL score(speaking) is low then you can offset that on face-to-face (on campus) interviews...and not by higher GMAT score.

And If you get little less in GMAT then you can offset that with high GPA (unfortunately which is fixed).

saeedt · Answer

I'm sorry PranavChamp but you got me wrong. I didn't mean at all I have in mind offsetting my low speaking score with a high GMAT. My point is that if I score, say, 650 on GMAT (God forbid

), I will apply for schools ranking 50 to 100, OK?. For such schools 23 TOEFL is enough and I dare say they won't reject you for this in the majority of cases. But if I score, say, 760, I will apply for top 30 schools. This will include Ross, Cornel, UC Irvine, and many other schools that implicitly or explicitly tend to reject a 23 due to high caliber pool of candidates. In this case, I don't wish to lose my competitiveness due to such a triviality like TOEFL(compared to a 760 and a 4 GPA), so I'll probably retake it to add to the perfection of my profile. I hope I'm clear. @ Vorskl, my friend, 26 is not excellent but I really doubt that it's "normal". It is 86% of the whole score. Roughly speaking it equals a 690 in GMAT. 690 is 85%. It's well above normal. Yes, we need to communicate, but the scores are not everything. Interview is a blessing from which I'm unfortunately deprived :cry: