How important is TOEFL score in MBA admissions?

F1GMAT:  TOEFL test is mandatory for MBA candidates from non-English speaking countries and for non-native English speakers. In your experience, what are some of the challenges faced by students in preparing for TOEFL exam?

STRICTLY ENGLISH: I think there are two basic challenges in TOEFL preparation: One is the Speaking and Writing sections of the test. The other is finding enough time to study for the exam.
The majority of the students Strictly English work with face the biggest challenge when preparing for the Speaking and Writing sections of the TOEFL. This is because almost everybody, even in their native language, finds it difficult to present their ideas clearly and concisely. Add to this TOEFL's  time constraints, and it becomes very demanding to generate ideas, organize them, support them, and present them in a way that will impress the TOEFL rater.

In addition, finding the time to study is a big challenge for almost all of our clients. Most are working full time, preparing for the GMAT, and working on their application essays. Therefore, we encourage everyone to begin preparing for TOEFL one full year before his or her first application deadline. That way, they can finish TOEFL early (about 9 months before their first application deadline) and move on to GMAT preparation, which will take about another 3 months. This then leaves them 6 months to work on their resume (1 month) and their application essays (2-3 months). The remaining 2-3 months can be used to request letters of recommendation, search for schools, or work a bit longer on whatever application task is giving them particular difficulties.
To help you determine how much time you need for your TOEFL study, we suggest that you plan on 2 hours of tutoring and 5 hours of self-study for every point that you want to increase.

F1GMAT:  We have seen that many MBA candidates do not take TOEFL exam seriously. Do you have some statistics to prove the wide reach of TOEFL as one of the entry criteria for business schools?

STRICTLY ENGLISH: Such hard data is not easy to come by. Both ETS (the developers and distributers of the TOEFL) and admissions offices remain rather tight-lipped on such topics. This being said, some of our staff have attended conferences where representatives from top MBA programs make it very clear that they take their TOEFL requirement very seriously. For example, Harvard Business School wants a 109, INSEAD a 104, and there is no negotiating this point. An application is immediately disqualified if it falls short by even one point. Which makes sense. These schools have so many applicants; they can afford to draw such lines in the sand.

As indicated in your question, many MBA applicants do not take the TOEFL exam seriously enough. The way we usually see this happen is, students will not even pick the schools they want to apply to until they take their TOEFL. They then let their TOEFL score determine the MBA programs to which they will apply. We at Strictly English feel like this is setting the bar low. MBA applicants should be challenging themselves to achieve the TOEFL score needed for the MBA program of their dreams.

F1GMAT:  In your opinion what would be a good scoring range for Internet and Paper based TOEFL tests?

STRICTLY ENGLISH: I am glad you asked this. Many MBA candidates think that they just need the score requested by the school, and no more. And this is, in part, true. Harvard, who requests a 109, is not more impressed with a 115. (I will answer in iBT scores only, for a conversion to PBT scores, please refer to our conversion table.) So in some respects, we tell our clients to just get the scores requested by the programs you're applying to. But, we're finding that most students achieve this score with high Reading and Listening sub-scores.

This is fine for the short-term task of getting the TOEFL score you want. Unfortunately, though, it is not as helpful for your future academic performance, which will be evaluated more directly on your ability to speak and write. (Nobody gets an "A" for reading quickly!) Therefore, we encourage our clients to score as high as possible on the Speaking and Writing sections of the test so that when they have to give presentations or write essays in their classes, they will get higher grades than their classmates who scored high on their TOEFL Reading section, but have no Speaking or Writing strengths. Read more Leveraging TOEFL score for your MBA program.

F1GMAT:  IELTS is catching up with TOEFL.  Some students claim that IELTS is much tougher than TOEFL. Would you agree?

STRICTLY ENGLISH: It's funny you should say that because we’ve heard the opposite. Many people claim that Speaking (which typically worries TOEFL test takers the most) is less scary on the IELTS because the test-taker gets to talk to a real person on the IELTS instead of a computer screen. I also find you're question interesting because the Strictly English representative that attended the most recent AIGAC conference was asked multiple times about how the PTE exam (the Pearson Test of English Exam) compares to the TOEFL. Strictly English will be beginning a comprehensive comparison of these three exams in the fall, and we'll be reporting our findings on our website in early October.

About the Author


Jon Hodge, Ph.D. has been researching the TOEFL test for more than 16 years. He started Strictly English in 2004 and continues to develop unique methods, strategies, and curriculum for Strictly English clients.




Since 2004, Strictly English has been specializing exclusively in customized TOEFL tutoring. Strictly English offers online one-on-one TOEFL tutoring with university professors who are trained TOEFL specialists.