Carnegie Mellon University

Tests for Non-native Speakers of English

To be successful at Carnegie Mellon, graduate students who are nonnative speakers of English need to begin their academic careers with a strong foundation in academic English and a high level of proficiency with speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English.

For this reason, the department requires minimum scores of:

  • TOEFL: total 84 with a speaking score of at least 18 (minimum), or total of 100 with a speaking score of 22 (preferred).
  • IELTS: band score of 7 with a speaking score of 6.5.
  • TOEFL iBT scores and IELTS scores should be not more than two years old. The department accepts TOEFL MyBest  Scores.
  • DuoLingo English Test (DET): Total of 105 (minimum), or a total of 120 (preferred)

Previous academic work in the US (or other English speaking countries) is not a sufficient reason to waive the TOEFL/IELTS requirement as this does not necessarily indicate a sufficient level of English mastery.

A telephone interview may be required in addition to assess spoken English profiency in more detail for both for a U.S. visa and for placement into appropriate initial course assignments as teaching assistants.

Our Institution and Department codes:

  • Institution code is 2074
  • Dept. code is 62