Is it okay to take Duolingo English Test?
As a international student, I have to demonstrate my proficiency in english. Most universities require TOEFL, but some of them say that they accept Duolingo English Test.
Does it impact negatively on my application if I take DET instead of TOEFL?
It would be so much better, because TOEFL is extremely expensive, a DET is not.
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3 answers
Good question, Gabriel. It appears that different scores on an English test like the TOEFL rarely affect admission as long as they are higher than a certain benchmark. My guess is that the same would be true for the DET versus the TOEFL. The college is unlikely to care which test you take as long as you prove proficient in English. Here is an article from the Manhattan Review for more on college policies on TOEFL scores: https://www.manhattanreview.com/toefl-weight-in-application/#:~:text=The%20TOEFL%20and%20Undergraduate%20Admissions&text=As%20long%20as%20the%20student,will%20not%20help%20the%20applicant).
As an international student, I hope you realize that you are almost certainly ineligible for U.S. federal financial aid, so keep in mind that the cost of the DET vs. that of the TOEFL will be negligible compared to your probable cost of attendance as well.
Hope this helps!
Honestly from the researches I've made, it makes no difference! They just want to know if you're going to be able to communicate well, understand the classes and socialize on campus, after you've reached that mark you're good to go. Besides that, DET is considered a serious test, and if they didn't think that way they wouldn't accept it!
I am an international student as well and I applied for fall 2021. I just want to let you know that most universities waive their English Proficiency requirement if English is your first language or you go to a school where you are taught in English. I come from a country where we are taught in English and it is my first language. I worried less about English proficiency and I focused on the SAT/ACT. I scored fairly high on the SAT reading and writing sections so that also helped my case. Hope this helps!
Good luck!
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Thank you! Haha I know it's really expensive, I will only be looking into universities with a need-blind program, and we have scholarships possibilities in my country if we want to study abroad as well. It's just really Odd for me the fact that there are universities that require specificaly TOEFL, when there are other possibilities to demonstrate proficiency in English.