Near the end of 2024 I linked to an article in the Free Press Journal which indicated that 90% of TOEFL takers send their scores to American universities. Many readers assumed that the quoted number represented Indian test takers only, so I assembled the League of TOEFL Experts to see what people in a few other key markets do with their scores.
Han Joon Lee, a highly in-demand tutor based in Korea told me that 98% of his TOEFL students use their scores to apply to American schools. He said that the percentage is higher than ever since domestic universities in Korea generally don’t use TOEFL scores nowadays.
Next, I reached out to Martin Chan (the one and only) who teaches for one of the big prep companies in China. He indicated that 90-95% of his TOEFL students plan to head to the USA (including some headed to high schools). According to him, the remaining 5-10 percent “use the TOEFL to apply to Japan, or very occasionally other countries.”
Finally, I asked Mahsa Shams Yousefi about the situation in Iran. She told me that “almost 90%” of her TOEFL students want to head to the US. Despite everything, the USA remains a popular destination for many young Iranian folks. Interestingly, she noted that “sometimes they just take the TOEFL test (rather than IELTS) because they mistakenly think American universities JUST accept TOEFL… [and] they believe the embassy officers prefer TOEFL scores.”
So there ya have it.
If you check Google’s “Ad Transparency” database and Meta’s “Ad Library” you’ll learn that ETS recently launched a big ad campaign promoting the usefulness of the test for people hoping to study in destinations outside of the United States. That was probably a smart move.