Graduate Application – GRE & TOEFL Requirements

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Minimum requirements: Verbal - 430; Quantitative - 650; Analytical - 520 or 3.0 (depending on the test taken)

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
Required of all foreign applicants unless a degree has been received from an accredited university in the US

Minimum requirement: 220*

o *Beginning September 24, 2005 the Educational Testing Service (ETS) will be administering a new version of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The new version is an on-line test called TOEFL iBT. The new TOEFL test is a breakthrough in testing that emphasizes integrated skills, and provides better information about test takers' ability to communicate in an academic setting. The new test has four different sections (reading, listening, speaking, and writing). Each section will be evaluated on a 30-point scale, with the total score ranging between 0 and 120.

o The Graduate School has determined that all applicants for graduate admission at Penn State, for whom English is not their primary language or they have not graduated from a college/university where the classes were conducted in English, must achieve a minimum cumulative score of 80 on all four sections of the iBT. Additionally, The Graduate School, in conjunction with the Penn State Center for Advance Language Proficiency Education and Research and ETS, has determined that all applicants must achieve a minimum of 23 on the speaking section. For further information about the new test version, including sample questions, go to http://www.ets.org/toefl/nextgen/