Can dd get into college w/out foreign language?

[HollyDay]

Can dd get into college without foreign language credits?

[Jane in NC]

This probably depends on the college. Our public university system requires applicants to have at least two years of foreign language although one certainly does not need this to attend community college.

 

Many colleges are now requiring foreign language for graduation. Thus it is a good idea for students to get their feet wet in high school before moving on to the faster pace of college foreign language lessons.

 

Also, foreign language classes help students solidify grammatical understanding of their native language. I see no reason to avoid it!

[mom2bee]

It depends entirely on the college. There are several colleges in my area (2 are public universities, 1 public community college, and 4 senior private colleges.)

All of the Public universities require a foreign language.

There is no requirement for the community college, which offers two semesters of German, Italian, French, Latin. They offer up to 5 semesters of Spanish.

 

The details get kind of messy, but in general, you need 2 semesters of the same language to be admitted and then to receive a bachelors of arts degree you need 3 semesters at the college level to graduate. (some Bachelors of Science degrees are exempt). Contact the schools she is interested in attending to learn more, but in general, it seems safer to just do a foreign language all through HS and have her meet that requirement.

[PeterPan]

Well unlike Jane, I can see reasons to avoid foreign language with some kids, sigh. For some kids it's a lot more of a slog. My kid spent how long this morning telling me a cursive upper case F is not an F because it's backwards, sigh. Some kids are like that, with brains that are going to forget it all anyway, meaning it starts to seem pretty futile. I didn't say worthless, but it can seem futile.

 

I've seen ASL mentioned quite a bit, but I'm running into a number of places that *won't* accept ASL for foreign language. Many colleges and universities don't even OFFER it. So if you get in there and need more foreign language credits for your degree, you have no path forward and have to start over with a new language you've never studied. I'm discouraging my dd radically against doing that (going into a language cold in college, for obvious reasons). Some universities have general ed requirements that you either meet in high school or get stuck doing in college. Finally clicked in my mind that if MOST of the incoming students have done xyz and it's conspicuously NOT on my dd's transcript, that MIGHT affect how she looks for merit aid. Would be interesting to know if that happened with Margaret's dd.

 

Credit wise you don't need it. To me the only concern is whether it's going to come back to bite her in the butt later when she's meeting degree requirements. The places we've looked at either require 2 years of a foreign language for their BA (in anything) or have a gen ed requirement you have to meet during high school, a gap year, or in college. After much consternation, I've decided we're going to split the difference. We're going to do SOMETHING, so I have SOMETHING to put on that transcript and label foreign language. I don't know how much or how fancy, but we're going to try to get it on there. And I'm also trying to find ASL options within a reasonable distance. Dd actually has an issue with ability to imitate motion (weird yes, the OT found it), so even ASL isn't exactly a shoe-in. She has been sprouting in her analytical abilities and has been very interested in Tolkien's languages. She makes little charts in the evening, etc. I'm not even privy to all she does, lol. Anyways, I'm hoping I can harness some of that maturity and analytical ability and bring it to a dab of language study. All I need is time spent, butt in chair, working on SOMETHING. We'll probably focus on reading.

 

There's a place out there for every dc, so I don't think it's a deal-breaker. I think in general we'd have more peace in our high school years if I *didn't* force her to go back to a foreign language and let her do ASL. However I see the doors that would close for the future, and I'm not willing to let those doors close on that, not this early in the game. If I could get her access to a good ASL program, it would be different. The only one close to us is 45 min through heavy traffic. Can't do that now, and I'm not sure I'd want her driving that as a new driver either. Means anything serious or for DE to get credit and knock it out isn't an option.

 

So I'm with you that I hate spending time on something that isn't going to be a strength for her. In looking at our specific situation, I don't see a better option. I may fail, and if I do we move on, lol. Worst that happens is she decides on a college and major with no language requirement. Life goes on. Or as she aptly says, if the college doesn't want her, she doesn't want them.

[Dmmetler]

FWIW, I started undergrad as a music therapy major, and ASL was required, but wasn't counted as a foreign language (it wasn't for the Speech/Language folks, either). However, vocal diction classes for Vocal performance majors were. Strange, huh?

[Trilliums]

I know some state universities do not require foreign language for admission but do require the equivalent of 4 years of high school foreign language for graduation.

[Barbara H]

In addition to looking at college requirements, it is important to check if your state has requirements for graduation that apply to homeschoolers because they may include foreign language.

[Lori D.]

If I could get her access to a good ASL program, it would be different. The only one close to us is 45 min through heavy traffic. Can't do that now, and I'm not sure I'd want her driving that as a new driver either.

 

 

 

Would public transportation be a safe and viable possibility? Our CC campus is a similar distance away, but we can buy student semester bus passes here (cheaper than gas for the car), and it's a straight shot and the bus route does not go through any dicey part of town. Also, DSs are able to read, study, or do homework during the 50-minutes each way on the bus. Lots of students ride the bus here, so it is "safe" as far as "customers" as well ...

 

However, I might feel very different if it were a 15yo DD, in contrast to 19yo and 21yo DSs...

[AnitaMcC]

Can dd get into college without foreign language credits?

 

 

 

My Dd does not have foreign language and she has been accepted to Penn State.

[katilac]

Some colleges require it, others don't. Some colleges that require will accept ASL or Latin, other's won't.

 

As others have noted, some colleges don't require it for admission, but do require it for college graduation. It's pretty likely that my kids schools/majors will require it, and I figure that it's probably easier to take college French if you've taken high school French.

[Ms. Riding Hood]

Then there is U Nebr/Lincoln, who admitted our son with two homeschool Latin credits...and then told him at the beginning of the semester that his language credits didn't count. He had the option to take a proficiency exam (his last Latin was finished as a 10th grader, so two years stale) or he had to take two credits of foreign language there. The reason they gave: he had no "spoken component" to his language. I argued that we had at least as much spoken component as any public school Latin class, but for naught. But Latin as a language is never excluded in any of their materials. Nor is there any mention of a "spoken component." The guy tried saying, "Lots of majors require four years of a foreign language. Maybe his does, too." (Nope.) Then: "Having that extra language exposure could be a real benefit." (Cash in my pocket is a real benefit, too, thank you.) Just thinking about this makes me want to call and argue it all again!