High School Foreign Language – What You Need to Know for College Admission

Last Updated on May 25, 2021 by Jill Schwitzgebel

When it’s time to choose high school schedules, I get LOTS of questions about foreign language requirements for college admissions. If your student does not appreciate the importance of taking a high school foreign language when it comes time to apply to college, it’s time to make sure they understand it now!

Here are my answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding foreign language requirements:

1. Does taking a foreign language in middle school count for college applications?

Usually. Generally, colleges will refer to the highest level of a language the student has completed. If a student took Spanish 1 in middle school, and then two more years in high school, stopping at Spanish 3, the college would count that as three years of a language.

As always, there are a handful of colleges that will calculate ONLY the years taken in high school. And if there is any question, students should ask the college for clarification directly.

2. If a college requires three years of a foreign language, is it okay if that is split into two (or more) languages?

Generally, no. When a college says that they want a minimum of three years of a high school foreign language, that means that they want to see depth in one language. Sometimes, there are extenuating circumstances, like maybe the high school only offers two years of Mandarin, and the guidance counselor should address that in their letter of recommendation for the student.

Students should assume that four years of French is better than two years of French and two of Spanish.

3. How many years of a foreign language do students typically need for college admissions?

It depends on the type of college the student is applying to, as well as the region of the country where they are applying. The absolute minimum requirement is generally two. And at many high schools, especially in some regions, that is all the guidance counselors will push college-bound students to take. But understand that the minimum requirement does not mean that is all the colleges really want to see on the transcript.

More competitive colleges will want three years at a minimum. And if the student is aiming really high, they need to have four years on their transcript.

4. Do colleges consider American Sign Language to be a foreign language?

Increasingly, yes! But again, this is worth investigating to discover whether it will meet the requirement for the colleges your student is interested in, because it is still not universally accepted.

One problem tends to be that when high schools offer ASL, they often only offer up to two years.

5. If a student is a native speaker of a language other than English, do they need to take a third language to meet the foreign language requirement?

It depends on how the colleges the student is interested in looks at it. Some of the time, colleges only care about the years of “foreign” language on the transcript. In that case, a native Spanish speaker could actually just take Spanish to fulfill their high school foreign language requirement. Some of the time, colleges only care about proficiency levels in the second language. So if a student can prove via an AP language test that they are proficient, that will be fine.

More selective colleges will expect their applicants to take a language OTHER than their heritage (native) language in high school.

6. How do colleges determine proficiency in a foreign language?

It varies. If a student has taken the AP foreign language exam, the college may use the student’s score on that test to determine placement.

Without AP test scores, and in some cases, even if they have those scores available, colleges will usually administer their own foreign language proficiency exam to determine proper course placement. Depending on the rigor of the high school foreign language program, I have known plenty of students who were able to place out of the college foreign language requirement after only three years of language in high school.

In some cases, it may depend on a student’s major. A student majoring in engineering may have different language proficiency requirements from someone majoring in history.

7. What if a student takes a foreign language at the college level, while in high school?

The student should check equivalencies with the colleges to which they’re applying. A year (two semesters) of college foreign language would likely be the equivalent of two years of high school language, due to the faster pace in college courses.

Have other college admissions questions? Contact me!