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:
- Will I have to demonstrate English-language competency for undergraduate
studies or just for graduate studies?
- 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.
- 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.