<p>Which colleges have mandatory foreign language requirements? I remember reading somewhere that some universities mandate that you demonstrate foreign language proficiency by senior year, but I'm not sure exactly how this works...</p>
<p>Clarification would be great!</p>
<p>Michigan does</p>
<p>Doesn't Dartmouth? I read that they must participate in language drills, etc.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Doesn't Dartmouth? I read that they must participate in language drills, etc.
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</p>
<p>That's actually what prompted me to create this thread. I just got a flyer for Dartmouth in the mail, and it offhandedly mentioned something about language being a part of curriculum there. I'd like to go to a college where I'd have experience in a language (if not conversational fluency) by the time I leave.</p>
<p>^^ I got that brochure/flyer from Dartmouth too! Such a lovely school!!</p>
<p>Vassar requires that you show proficiency in a language, which can be done in several ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>2 courses in a foreign language at Vassar.</li>
<li>A score of 4 or 5 on an AP foreign language or literature exam.</li>
<li>A score greater than 600 on an SAT II in foreign language.</li>
<li>Achieving an acceptable score on the foreign language test giving to incoming freshman wishing to demonstrate proficiency by the language department.</li>
</ol>
<p>It doesn't really matter which ones have a requirement, then, if you are planning on taking language classes anyway...</p>
<p>University of Chicago</p>
<p>lot's of colleges do- Stanford, USC to name 2 that haven't been mentioned. You have to look up graduation requirements within each colleges website to find the info. Many, if not most, will accept high SAT II language scores or AP language scores in the 4-5 range to place out of the language requirement.</p>
<p>I was surprised at how low the SAT II scores have to be at Stanford to place out of the language requirement. About 620-640, for almost all of them--and only 540 for Hebrew. Those scores don't actually reflect very much language proficiency!</p>
<p>Tufts requires eight semesters of a foreign language, but you can substitiute cultural classes instead.</p>
<p>Damn. I was hoping for a college that actually made you take language courses. I already have demonstrated language proficiency in Latin (4-5 on the AP, 770 on SAT II), and I'd love to be forced to learn another language that I might not want to of my own volition.</p>
<p>You sound a bit like an academic sadomasochist. ;)</p>
<p>haha aristotle, I kind of agree with you. I think it would be a lot of fun to get into another language like German or Italian or something, and I just don't see myself finding the time to devote for it if it isn't required. (I already have "proficiency" in French.)</p>
<p>At Michigan, all students must demonstrate at least Junior-level standing in a Foreign Language.</p>
<p>Pennington is actually slightly incorrect. At Tufts, as a regular liberal arts student you must take 6 semesters of foreign language, but you may substitute 3 of these semesters for culture classes, meaning you would take 3 semesters of say french, and then three classes of french history, music, what have you. For the IR major, however, you MUST take 8 semesters of language, and there is no way to get around it, unless of course, you're already fluent in something coming in.</p>
<p>Columbia, Princeton.</p>
<p>Actually, a 640 is not that bad on a language test (that's what I got!) One of the things is that these schools require proficiency and not fluency. Those are very different words. I generally define proficiency as someone who can read through a newspaper article and look up words in the dictionary that are not familiar. Someone who is fluent knows the word already.</p>
<p>I guess I'm basing my "mid/low-600s isn't all that good" opinion on two things:</p>
<p>1) It's Stanford, for Pete's sake. Nobody would apply to Stanford thinking "Oh, a 620 is a perfectly fine SAT score to submit." Everyone on CC, at least, would be scrambling to retake. A 620-640 is a fairly low (bottom quartile) score for Stanford or any of those top schools, as far as admissions are concerned. </p>
<p>2) I had studied French for less than a year when I took the SAT II French test and scored 770. It just wasn't that demanding. Now, I know that "had studied French for less than a year" isn't the whole story--after all, it's my story, so I should know--but it still says something. It takes time for a language to sink in. I was able to score high before the language had fully sunk in. If that's what I did and got a 770, then I imagine that someone scoring a 620 or 640 would not have to have a very durable understanding of the language and might, in fact, be fairly *un*proficient by the time they get to Stanford, and certainly by the time they graduate, if they did no language study during their years there. </p>
<p>At the end of 11th grade I got a score like 620 on the SAT II Chemistry test; I have virtually no understanding or knowledge of chemistry anymore (one year later), and had relatively little understanding when I took the test. I know full well that I can't necessarily apply this to other SAT II tests, but it does somewhat affect my perception of a low/mid-600 score.</p>