I am aiming to apply for PhD in USA. As I've reviewed the admission requirements for certain universities I noticed that in most of the cases TOEFL scores are considered by sections. For example, in UCLA the minimal score for IBT TOEFL test is 87 but there is also the note which suggests that you need at least 21 in reading section, 17 in listening section, 24 in speaking section and 25 in writing section. ( The sum of these is 87). On the contrary the minimal requirement for IELTS is 7.0 overall band score, and there is no note which suggests what are the minimal requirements for each section. I've seen this method of reviewing scores on other university's websites too.
My question is, why do universities consider TOEFL IBT scores by sections, but IELTS scores as an overall band score?
