Parents of collage kids, how important is a HS foreign language?

[DisneyDreamer2504]

It was standard 20+ years ago in universities. Taking one year of foreign language was required to graduate.

Okay sorry guys. I guess I wasn't aware of such requirements when I went to college bc I had taken way more than 2 years foreign language anyway.

 

[clh2]

Take a look at the most prestigious "state" university in your state. For us - that would have been UW-Madison. We figured if DD met the requirements for that school - she would be pretty well set for most institutions.

Now - DD was not planning on a Ivy-league type of education. If she was going to do that, we would have looked at those admission requirements as well.

Another thing to consider - to try to fit in the foreign language - do you have the opportunity to take a class at a community college in the summer? DD was not able to do this, as her high school didn't recognize the credits.

 

[Sadie22]

How much is required to graduate from high school and how much is recommended to gain admission to a given college may be different. Only two years of a foreign language may be considered as a weak prep for college by some admissions departments.

There may be specific requirements for certain majors. A math major I know had to take two years worth of a different language than the one chosen in high school in order to get a degree as a math major. They were required to be able to read original research in one of several languages, IIRC. That student wished the language had been studied in high school rather than having to take that in college, instead of more courses in the major, etc.

 

[Art 1]

Very, the kids went to a college prep HS that recommended the same language be taken for 4 years. So they did. It was actually their fist language. My son never cared enough to become bi-lingual and just spoke English at home. My daughter did and it has and will be a huge plus as she enters the job market this spring.

 

[zurgswife]

You can always get around Foreign Language at most schools.

I had a dd at NYU with only 1 year of HS Latin (which isn't counted as a foreign language for most colleges), I have a son at Fordham Univ. with 1 year HS French and I have at Bloomsburg without any HS FL. Acceptance was not affected at any of the schools.

At NYU her major didn't require any FL so no issue, my son at Bloomsburg didn't require a FL for major. My son at Fordham is required to have a "Exit Level" foreign language yet, there are whys around it and he is taking those classes.

I think I'd take a look at the schools he is planning on attending and maybe even majors to get a feel for what they look for...... while some say 2 yrs foreign language it is not actually required to be accepted at the school.

 

[khiggins77]

I'm a 21 year old college student, this question is determined about the schools you are looking at. If you try collegeboard.org it tells you what every school requires. My friend needed 4 years and I went to a "rival" school and only required two years. It is all based off the school and major choice.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

30 + years ago it was the norm- I surprised how many are surprised by it

2 years in HS, 2 years in college

I graduated HS in 1985. It most certainly was not the norm here.

 

[Arielle22]

My DDs attend the same college. DD20 went to a Vo-tech high school and didn't take a language. She has to take language now (picked Italian).

Younger DD took 4 years of French in high school (last 2 years A/P) and was able to test out of the language requirement for college.

 

[NotUrsula]

30 + years ago it was the norm- I surprised how many are surprised by it

2 years in HS, 2 years in college

It was the norm in some places, but by no means all. Thirty years ago most land-grant universities in poorer states did not require high-school foreign language credits for admission, mostly because in quite a few schools (mine included) it was impossible to do; I went to high school in rural Louisiana, and we didn't have any foreign language classes at my high school (I took French in middle school, but that was because of a grant program that made it available as a cultural enrichment program in French-speaking parishes. The program still exists; it is called CODOFIL; they sponsor residents of French-speaking countries to come to Louisiana on fellowships to teach French.) College friends of mine from Baton Rouge and New Orleans could take Russian back then, in addition to Spanish and German and French, but we rural kids, if we were lucky, might have gotten a chance at French. Only 19 kids in my high school class of 185 went to a four-year college; most of them attended vo-tech schools. It wasn't worth it for the financially-strapped HS to maintain a foreign-language department that could barely fill a class section.

I was required to do at least 18 hours of a "language-other-than-English" in college, but it didn't have to be a so-called "world language". For financial reasons I needed to get through school as quickly as possible and work quite a few hours as well, so I chose Latin, because it did not require any language lab attendance. I ended up minoring in Classics because I only needed to take an extra six hours to qualify for it. FWIW, the Latin has served me pretty well. Because it is the root of all Romance Languages, I can get by in any of them in a pinch.

 

[MrsPete]

As a teacher of high school seniors, I assure you that two years of the same language is a "standard" requirement for admissions at most 4-year universities (and has been since I was a college student in the 80s). No exclusion policies. It's an admissions requirement for everyone.

If the world language (we don't say foreign language anymore) is the only thing preventing you from being admitted to a certain school, a state school will still turn you down, BUT a small, non-elite private school may allow you "in" without the language . . . but you'll be required to take it during your first year of college, and it will be considered "remedial" -- that is, you will have to pay for it, but it won't count for college credit. This is, obviously, a bad deal. Take the classes in high school.

If you're looking at a community college, you don't need the two years of world language, BUT if you ever want to transfer to a 4-year university, it will be required at that point.

As for taking it online, tread carefully. Online classes are growing in popularity, and I've had some students take world languages online with success . . . but I've had more say they wished they'd never embarked on that quest. As a rule, I'd be more willing to say, "Do it!" to a student who'd already had the first level class and was looking to take the second or third level -- it's tough to get the rudimentary punctuation without help from an actual, in-person teacher. An alternative: If you can't fit in the language class, consider taking, perhaps, history online and take the language class in person.

Do you need to take world language at the college level to earn your college degree? That depends upon your major and your school. My nursing daughter doesn't have to take it, but my business daughter will.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Okay sorry guys. I guess I wasn't aware of such requirements when I went to college bc I had taken way more than 2 years foreign language anyway.

I was not a "universal" requirement in the 80's. I'm sure there were many schools that had such requirements, and at other schools, some majors. But, it was not across the board. In my graduating class, I can guarantee more than half the top 10 kids took one year of foreign language. Honestly, the college bound kids were the LEAST likely to have multiple years of foreign language because doing so would have interfered with them completing advanced math, science, and English classes.

 

[bjscheel]

Ugh, DD15 has a really poor Spanish teacher- most Freshman dropped out at semester- and she would love to not take it next year, but I'm afraid she'll have to suffer through one more year.

 

[cassandrap83]

Most 4yr Universities require 2 years of foreign language in High School.

 

[NotUrsula]

Ugh, DD15 has a really poor Spanish teacher- most Freshman dropped out at semester- and she would love to not take it next year, but I'm afraid she'll have to suffer through one more year.

These days, many states, especially rural states, offer an "online high school" that may be used to get a few credits in classes that are not available at their schools. Could she complete her language requirement that way, or by doing it over a summer at CC?

My DS slogged through his required two years of Spanish Freshman and Sophomore years, scraping by with a scant C, but passing. He actually speaks the language fairly fluently, but cannot conjugate a verb properly to save his life. (He has an LD that makes grammar exercises very difficult for him; he has trouble with them in English as well. For that reason, formal language study is a huge struggle for him.) His guidance counselor and I agreed that it was best for him to do his language work in his first two years, so that his grades would improve and not decline as he became an Upperclassman, as most colleges put a bit more weight on academic performance during Jr. and Sr. years.

 

[JillyBean1899]

I took 2 years of Latin in HS, which was required to graduate (I could have taken Spanish or French, but Latin is easier to pronounce ), and counts as my FL requirement for graduation from a Florida college, even though I graduated from HS over 15 years ago

 

[powellrj]

My DSs school required a language in college for his major, while DDs college doesn't, but both of them had to have at least 2 years for their honors diploma to graduate from HS.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We've done 3 years in MS and 1 year in HS. It's getting very hard to fit a language into the next schedule. Some of the AP and honors classes are double periods. I'd hate to have my child give up one of those to take a language.

It's very important. Some colleges require 2 years in high school, others 3. Very few do not suggest at least 2. Now often times, the foreign language ceases being important except for admissions or to satisfy gen ed requirements. That said, given that classes in middle school were taken, I'd probably go to the nearest community college and test exactly where they are. If they're testing at the same level as someone who has taken two (or 3) years in high school, you're good. The other alternative is to take such a test through the testing services subject test.

 

[FergieTCat]

On a day to day basis, I never speak French, so I guess it wasn't that important.

Algebra, on the other hand, does come in useful every now and then. Calculus, not so much.

 

[StitchFanZ]

If your child has taken that many years, they might want to consider taking the CLEP exam or SAT subject test in that language. It is best to take those tests when they have just finished the class. Many colleges will give credit for certain scores or accept the scores as having met the requirement of high school classes.

 

[Poohforyou]

Our hs requires 2 years of the same language to graduate. My dd is a freshman and will likely take 3-4 years. Is summer school an option to fulfill some requirements? My dd is taking an economics class thru our district in July to get that requirement taken care of.