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College Admissions Counselor

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication

An admissions counselor spends all day, every day, communicating with others.

"I am constantly writing letters, answering email messages and talking on the phone to students," says Sandy Ho, an admissions officer. "I send messages all around the world.

"Your language skills have to be excellent," she says. "You speak with many people who don't use English as a first language and you have to decipher what they are saying or writing and then think of the clearest possible way to get a message back to them."

Mojuba, a student from Botswana, is inquiring about entering undergraduate studies at your university. He has sent you an email asking questions about your university's language proficiency policies.

These are his questions:

  1. Will I have to demonstrate English-language competency for undergraduate studies or just for graduate studies?
  2. If I have a score of 585 on my TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), am I eligible to register? I took the test three years ago.
  3. The main language used at my school isn't English, but we are required to have a high standard of English. Could this be enough to show my proficiency in English?

By reading the admission language policy, answer Mojuba's questions as clearly as you can.

University Language Proficiency Policy

All applicants, regardless of country of origin or of citizenship status, will be required to demonstrate competence in the English language prior to admission. With the exception of applicants to the faculty of graduate studies, applicants may demonstrate English language competence by one of the following:

  • Five years of full-time education in English in the U.S., or the equivalent in another country where English is the principal language. Such education must include a Grade 12 education or equivalent
  • A score of 570 on TOEFL. This test must be taken no more than two years prior to application
  • Successful completion of six credits of post-secondary English studies
  • Successful completion of the equivalent of five years of full-time instruction in a school or institution where the major language of instruction is other than English, but where the level of English proficiency required is equivalent to that in English language schools in the U.S.

Contact

  • Email Support
  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900
  • North Dakota Career Resource Network
    ndcrn@nd.gov | (701) 328-9733

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