English Proficiency Waivers for US Bachelor's Degree Applicants
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Sep 18, 2026 • Updated Sep 18, 2026
Many US universities waive the TOEFL or IELTS requirement for undergraduate applicants who studied in English for enough years at a US or international high school, or who hold strong A Level or IB English grades. Each university sets its own rule, not the Common App.
🎓 A common waiver condition is 3 or more years of full-time schooling where English was the language of instruction.
📩 A Level English at a qualifying grade, or IB English at Higher Level with a qualifying score, substitutes for TOEFL or IELTS at many schools.
🌍 An international school that teaches in English, outside an English-speaking country, often counts too, if the school confirms it in writing.
✅ The waiver is never automatic. You request it and the admissions office confirms it against its written policy.
Who sets the waiver rule
The Common App does not set English proficiency policy. It collects your application and lets each member college attach its own English-proficiency requirement and its own waiver conditions. The same student gets a waiver at one university and still owes a TOEFL or IELTS score at another, even applying through the same Common App account.
Read the English proficiency section on the specific university's international admissions page, not a general Common App help article, before you decide to skip a test.
Schooling-based waivers
The most common waiver path is years of instruction in English. Universities typically ask for a set number of consecutive years, often 3 or more, of full-time secondary schooling where English was the language of instruction, whether that schooling happened in the United States, the United Kingdom, or an English-medium international school elsewhere. You confirm this with your high school transcript, sometimes alongside a letter from your school registrar stating the language of instruction.
A school that teaches some subjects in English and others in the local language does not always qualify. Check the exact wording the university uses, since "instruction in English" and "English as a subject" are different standards, and colleges apply them differently.
Exam-based waivers
Strong grades in A Level English Language or English Literature, or a qualifying score in IB English at Higher Level, waive the requirement at many US universities. The grade or score threshold differs by school, so a grade that clears one university's bar falls short at another. Some universities also accept a strong verbal or reading score on the SAT or ACT as supporting evidence, though this is less common as a standalone waiver.
Citizenship and passport are not the same as language
Holding a passport from an English-speaking country does not automatically waive the requirement everywhere. Some universities waive the test for citizens of specific English-speaking countries, but many instead key the waiver to where and in what language you were schooled, not your passport. Read the exact condition rather than assuming your nationality settles the question.
How to request the waiver
Find the English proficiency page for the specific undergraduate program, since graduate and undergraduate offices at the same university sometimes apply different rules.
Check whether you meet the schooling years, the exam grade, or the citizenship condition exactly as written.
Upload the transcript, diploma, or exam certificate the page asks for, or request a letter from your school registrar confirming the language of instruction if the page asks for one.
Contact the international admissions office in writing if your situation sits close to the stated rule without matching it exactly, and keep the reply for your records.
Common reasons a waiver request gets rejected
The transcript lists course names in English but does not state English as the language of instruction, so the office cannot confirm it from the document alone.
The years of schooling fall just short of the stated minimum, often because a transfer between school systems interrupted a continuous count.
The A Level or IB grade meets the university's general admission bar but sits below its separate, higher bar for an English waiver specifically.
The request arrives after the application deadline, when the office no longer has time to review supporting documents case by case.
Plan for both outcomes
Apply for the waiver as early as your application system allows, and register for TOEFL or IELTS as a backup at the same time if seats near your deadline run limited. Canceling a test you did not end up needing costs less than missing a deadline because your waiver request came back too late.
If you do not qualify for a waiver
Register for TOEFL, IELTS, or another accepted test early in your application timeline. A missed or late English test score is a common reason an otherwise complete application gets delayed at the review stage. Credential evaluators in the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers network also help you understand how your specific transcript maps onto a US school's language-of-instruction standard, if your school's records are unclear.