U.S. College Admissions: Each School Sets Its Own Requirements

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our series for students around the world who want to attend college in the United States. This week, we answer a question from Nigeria. Segun Badagry wants to know the general admission requirements needed to study sociology at an American university.

Each university has its own requirements for students to be admitted. But we will use as an example the University of Oregon in Eugene. The University of Oregon requires an international student to send copies of all school records after the eighth grade, including translations if necessary. A financial statement and a bank letter showing the student's ability to pay are also required.

The student must also send the results of the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or other English language test.

The University of Oregon says its minimum acceptable TOEFL score on the paper test is five hundred. On the computer test, it is one hundred seventy-three. Some international students must take another English test after arriving at the university. A low score on this test will require additional English training. Students with high TOEFL scores do not have to take this test.

The University of Oregon says it may conditionally accept students who do not meet its English language requirement. These students must take classes at the university's American English Institute before taking regular classes later.

The University of Oregon does not require S-A-T or A-C-T test results for admission, except from students who plan to study architecture. Its Web site provides more information about admissions, costs, and financial aid. The address is http://www.uoregon.edu/ . Click on Admissions, then International. Similar information should also be found on Web sites of other universities.

The sociology department is usually a part of the university called the College of Liberal Arts or College of Arts and Sciences. Such a department requires that a student successfully pass classes taken in the first two years of university study. After that, the student officially asks to be admitted to the department as a sociology major.

This report and the others in the series can be found on our Web site: WWW.51VOA.COM.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Gwen Outen.