FAQs: Requirements

Main Content

What is the required TOEFL score?
Do I have to have TOEFL?
What is the TASP/THEA test? Who has to take it?
Why do you need my syllabus?

What is the required TOEFL score? (top)

UNT requires a TOEFL score of 550 on the paper-based test, a 213 on the computer-based test, or a 79 on the internet-based test. However, some departments, such as Computer Science and English, require higher scores. Please check with your department for more information.

Do I have to have TOEFL? (top)

There are many ways to show proof of English proficiency. For example, students who graduate from UNTs Intensive English Language Institute are exempt from taking the TOEFL for admission to most UNT Undergraduate and Graduate majors. Likewise, students who complete a certain score on the SAT or ACT are also exempt from taking the TOEFL. Additionally, there are several English Language Proficiency tests that can be taken in lieu of the TOEFL. Please visit our English Language Proficiency Requirement page for a complete list of all English Language Proficiency waivers and alternatives.

What is the TASP/THEA test? Who has to take it? (top)

The Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA, formerly TASP) is a test required by the State of Texas. All undergraduate students, regardless of citizenship, are required to take the THEA if they wish to enroll at a Texas public college or university. THEA is waived if a student has 3 university-level credits prior to September 1989, a U.S. Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, or the THEA-recommended scores on the ACT, SAT, or TAAS test. Other exemptions also apply. Complete information on the THEA can be obtained from UNT’s THEA Office.

Why do you need my syllabus? (top)

Your syllabus is used to help your academic department determine how many of the credits you earned at your previous college or university can actually count towards your UNT degree plan. While the International Admissions Office might transfer in, for example, 60 credits of transfer work, that doesn’t mean that your department will count all of the 60 credits towards your UNT degree plan. You will still receive credit for the 60 hours, but your department will determine which credits will fulfill departmental requirements and which will count as electives.

For instance, let’s say that you took a class called Math 100. Your department will be unable to give you full credit for that class without knowing what the course covered. But, if your syllabus said that your Math 100 class covered algebraic operations, linear equations and inequalities, polynomials, rational expressions, and quadratic equations, the department would be able to compare that to UNT’s course requirements and possibly waive you from taking that course at UNT.

Basically, we want you to get full credit for the classes that you’ve already taken, and the only way to ensure that is for you to provide a syllabus or course description for all of your previous transfer work.