Hello I’m currently a junior in high school and recently college has really been bringing me down. I live right near new york and am planning on attending colleges in Connecticut, See foreign languages are my Achilles’ heel. I’m terrible at them i took french in middle school and managed to get out with a D. So then my freshman year in high school switched into Spanish heard it was a lot easier. But i still did terrible my freshman year getting a high C and low B. I then made it to Spanish 2 and it was terrible too but i decided i was tired of getting bad grades for my junior year i wouldn’t do Spanish. Boy was that a huge mistake. Recently i have been going on college tours just went to central Connecticut this weekend. It was great and then i see you need “proficiency in foreign language before graduation” Same goes for almost every college in my state. Now that I’ve taken up to Spanish 2 and my junior year is almost done. Looks like i have to change my schedule for Spanish 3. Has anyone else had problems with Foreign language? Will colleges not accept me for avoiding foreign language? How hard is college level foreign language classes? Anyway to avoid foreign language?
Is foreign language a requirement for you to graduate high school? Because in most cases it is.
The only way to “avoid” foreign language is by taking the AP test for it, I think. Do you speak any other language besides English at home? If so, then you should easily be able to pass the AP tests as they are catered towards foreign learners.
It’s a requirement to take 2 years not 3 years, but all the colleges want that 3rd year, some to apply some to graduate, and nope i only speak English and am terrible at all other languages
Harder than you can imagine. Take a year of HS language. Now go to a quarter-system school and you do the same material in 10 weeks.
OP: Three years (often four) is the usual REQUIREMENT to apply to colleges and universities. If you apply without these courses, generally you application will be summarily rejected. I appreciate the fact that you’re terrible at foreign languages (I was, too), but you surely understand the meaning of prerequisite, don’t you?
Further, in my experience the four terms of French I was required to take to earn my Bachelor’s degree were MUCH more difficult than the four years I had to take in high school.
Good luck.
Son has only 2 years of foreign language in high school. He was accepted to Wesleyan University, University of Rochester, our state flagship and some fairly selective LACs. He only applied to schools that do not have a foreign language in their general ed requirements (except our instate option). For the instate option, you can request a waiver (tehy will substitute in other cultural classes) based on LDs, ADHD, etc.
FYI, if you are going into Engineering by any chance, they usually have very low foreign language requirements.
GL OP!
I would also like input about this - thank you for the words of encouragement Midwest Salmon! My daughter is in quite the foreign language predicament – she took Spanish 1 as an 8th grader and 2 and 3 in her freshman and sophomore year. However, she was not recommended for Spanish 4 and her guidance counselor (who is worthless beyond belief!) actually said she did not need another year, only to come back and tell us now at the end of her junior year that she will be at a disadvantage with only 2 years. Has anyone else been in this position where you started a foreign language in middle school and took II and III in high school but couldn’t continue beyond that? Anyone find that it hurt their admissions process. Daughter is a strong “B” candidate (3.45 gpa) and the schools she is applying to are not the more competitive ones.
@NJFabFour She would be fine with 2 years world language and achieved level 3 in high school. That would be considered as 3 years of world language in most schools particularly in the tier she would be looking at.