<p>Is it required to take a foreign language at U-W Madison?
I applied as undecided in L&S, and I have taken 4 years of language and might take the AP test this year.</p>
<p>Other than that, would I have to take a language still during the next couple of years??</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Here’s what you can do:</p>
<ol>
<li> Take the AP test</li>
<li> Take the UW placement test in your foreign language</li>
<li>Then, take one semester of that same foreign language at UW (based on your placement test score)</li>
<li> EARN retroactive language credits which help you (higher class standing for registration, credited toward graduation</li>
</ol>
<p>For example, say you take the Spanish AP exam and score a 4 or a 5, you will earn 3 college credits.</p>
<p>Then, take Spanish 226 (5th semester Spanish) at UW, you will earn credit for that class (3 credits) and all of the credits for the first 4 semesters of Spanish (16 credits)!</p>
<p>That’s 22 credits - normally you earn about 15 credits per semester.</p>
<p>^OP, please do this if you aren’t a complete masochist.</p>
<p>I blew off the placement tests saying I didn’t want to do French and wanted to start over in a new language - I picked Norwegian. I really don’t like it and the sheer number of credits I could have gotten for French is ridiculous. I still have like 1 and 2/3 semesters left of Norwegian and I’ll only have the credits I actually got (nothing retroactive, just the 9 I need).</p>
<p>If you want to learn a new language take it as an elective or something. Just get the requirements out of the way and get the retroactive credits.</p>
<p>You don’t have to take the AP exam to get retro credits. If the UW placement test puts you in the 5th semester of your language and you take it and get a B or better you also get credit for the 4 semesters that precede it. There are certain caveats like having to take the 5th semester class within the first 30 credits at UW. Here’s a link to the policy: </p>
<p>[The</a> University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute](<a href=“http://www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu/content/uw_students/retroactive_credit_policy.htm]The”>http://www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu/content/uw_students/retroactive_credit_policy.htm)</p>
<p>If you do take the AP exam, your score on that supercedes the placement test for placement.</p>
<p>As far as not having to take any language at all, it depends on the school within the university. Here’s a link to the policies:</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute](<a href=“http://www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu/content/uw_students/language_requirements.htm]The”>http://www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu/content/uw_students/language_requirements.htm)</p>
<p>For L&S it seems your 4 years of language in high school satisfies the requirement. Speak to your advisor at SOAR about it to be sure.</p>
<p>Your 4 years of HS will satisfy both the BA and BS degree reqs for L&S. You only take the language placement test if you plan to continue that language at UW. Unless you want to I wouldn’t bother. You likely don’t need the retroactive credits possible and could use your college time taking a different subject. The exception would be a major requiring more foreign languages- as above, your SOAR advisor will know.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification about needing to earn a ‘B’ or better in the semester of foreign language at UW. I forgot to mention that.</p>
<p>You are right, you don’t need to take the AP exam to get the retro credits. But if you do take the AP exam (and earn a 4 or 5, I believe)you also get those credits plus the retro credits if you take the semester you test into.</p>
<p>For pre-business students, a nice change in policy regarding foreign language retro credits (students entering college summer 2008 or later) - the ‘retro’ credits DO count toward the 120 credits needed for a BBA degree.</p>
<p>I think giving college credits for required HS classes is going way too soft. You should earn 120 college level credits–not HS. And I don’t like the B School caving in at all. You need more business and real college classes–not fewer. Giving out credits like candy just to get people through faster cheapens the degree. This is ridiculous. You should have at least three years of HS language classes just to get into UW and go from there. Giving out 16 credits for high school work is nuts.
Do any other good schools do that??</p>
<p>For my S, with the retro credits, he can take 12 credits instead of 15 many semesters in B School, which helps him 1) afford college, as he is also working 20 hours a week, and 2) concentrate more fully on the 4 classes he does have , and 3) have time be involved in 2 B School groups.</p>
<p>Barrons, my D acquired 12 retro credits for Spanish & it will mean not one whit towards her dual degree from a credit standpoint. There are so many requirements for both that she’ll have upwards of 150 credits when all is said and done. And it’ll take a couple of summers and maybe an extra semester to fit the sequences in. </p>
<p>I suppose if she were trying to skate through & do as little as possible towards some non-hirable B.A., the retro credits might be an advantage, but what’s the point of that?! For what I’m paying OOS & the overall quality of UW-Madison, that would be a sin & a waste.</p>
<p>It’s probably different for everybody but from my standpoint, these retros are kind of ‘out there’ & don’t really help all that much re: satisfying requirements other than adding to the scoresheet total.</p>
<p>Just curious for you anti-retro people. Are you also anti-AP Credit? Do you believe kids should not get credit for AP classes taken in high school (Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, History and the like)?</p>
<p>I think there are evolving indicators that those classes are often marginal in content and the practice of giving credit for less than a 4-5 is dubious. Many top schools are getting away from giving AP credits. But giving credit for classes you need to get into UW is below the line. What next–credits for Civics and English III?? No college credits for any classes needed to meet UW admissions basic requirements as follows: </p>
<p>We generally expect students to enroll in five academic courses per year and advanced-level work (e.g., honors and AP) in as many areas as possible.</p>
<p>Minimum for Application Typical for Admission<br>
English 4 years 4+ years<br>
Math* 3 4+
Social Studies 3 4+
Science 3 4
Single Foreign Language 2 4
Additional Academic/Fine Arts 2 2+ </p>
<p>Total Units 17 22+</p>
<p>Madison85, AP credits have their own merits, certainly in a different way than foreign language retro credits. Placing out of math, psych, etc. gives the student a leg up in satisfying those core requirements, like you say allowing them flexibility in number of hours taken per semester & moving on faster toward courses within their major. Having 8, 12, 16 extra foreign language credits does little more than it allows the student to register for classes a little earlier, which is something I guess.</p>
<p>AP credits represent less rigorous course work/content than UW courses. But then, so do transfer credits accepted from many other institutions. Therefore the value of a UW-Madison degree is in the upper level courses taken in the major and the last 60 credits. To get the retroactive language credits a student needs to perform at a certain level on the placement test plus do B or better work in a UW course. Not all students will place into a level that gives credit for every HS year taken. Those extra credits, like AP credits, only come into play after they are recorded at the end of the first semester- therefore too late to help with second semester registration. I, too, wish AP credits would not satisfy some requirements- especially the literature one. However, I see where students have room in their schedules for more advanced and/or interesting courses by not needing to repeat HS work. Some students will find themselves repeating AP course work as those courses may not give them enough background for the next course in a sequence- Calculus is often one such course.</p>