Looks like NY public universities list recommended rather than required high school course work including foreign language, unlike public universities in some other states where some level higher than 1 in foreign language may be a hard requirement for admission.
Op is likely ok for CUNYs, including Baruch, but the safeties s/he asked about would not make an exception to the foreign language requirement for a business elective or a CTE academy.
Op really needs to find a way to reach level 3 (2 at a basic minimum). S/he has two years ahead of him/her, it’s doable.
(In addition, due to most colleges having a foreign language requirement for college graduation, OP would be at a disadvantage not just in the college admissions process but also in college itself).
If you have taken a specific program, then you need to look for colleges that don’t require FL and also have that program. FOr example, if it was some kind of Business oriented program, you will have to find colleges with business majors that have low FL requirements. Lets say you look at Baruch College…they have business and a 2 year FL requirement. So maybe you take another year on line or at your local CC or something.
@menloparkmom, yes, I know OP has a 3.6 GPA and has scheduled only one year of FL.
I interpreted (perhaps incorrectly) some posters as saying that OP won’t get into selective colleges with a 3.6 anyway, so why worry about only one year of FL. I was disputing that; arguing that OP would need at LEAST two years for many good schools that one could get into with a 3.6.
Personally, I don’t understand the point of taking one year of FL at all. It’s pretty useless. I’m a big proponent of becoming proficient in a FL as a central part of education and wish we started in elementary years.
I’m not really interested in majoring in business that’s just what my school’s curriculum taught. That 3.6 GPA is just for the end of Sophomore year, so it will likely increase if I continue to do well(and I’m taking some weighed courses next year), but if I was to complete another year of foreign language would I be competitive for Fordham?
It is important to do your own research i the process. Google “Fordham common data set” and look at section C to see how many units of foreign language are recommended/required. And do the exact same thing for any other college you are considering applying to.
This is what got you into this position: you don’t do your own research. If you expect to survive at a university, you need to find the answers yourself. I was curious and it took me less than a minute to Google and find this:
https://www.fordham.edu/info/20976/what_were_looking_for/2111/high_school_curriculum
Trust me, if OP has the grades and scores s/he will be able to go to Fordham without having 2- 4 years of foreign language . I could name more than 20 kids of the top of my head, that have been accepted to Fordham in the past 2 years who did not have 3 yers of foreign language where were accepted Gen admission (with scholarship) and HEOP (Min gpa for HEOP is 90 along with income eligibility).
Ya’ll are making too much out of this. Nothing unusual about CTE programs as there are CTE programs in every school district in NYS, extremely common outside of NYC (BOCES) and it has not prevented anyone from getting in to college. This is why the school profile is important. OP will not be penalized for not having foreign language because s/he attends a CTE school.
What do you mean that not doing research got me into this position(what position are you talking about)? I did research on the colleges I was looking for and most of them required a certain amount of years of foreign language, so I asked the original question wondering since I was getting a CTE dimpola would I still be expect to take more than the one year of foreign language offered by my program. Additionally I asked about Fordham since the person I was initially replying to recommended a college which I felt was below stats.
My school isn’t CTE based, just the program I’m in is CTE based would the school profile still cover that?
We’re a NYS homeschool family. The NYS Board of Regents doesn’t require any foreign language for homeschooled students. The SUNY my son hoped to attend only “recommended” 2-3 years for applicants, but he took 4 years of foreign language anyway. I thought the exposure would be good for him and I wanted him to have the most rigorous course load available so he’d be a competitive applicant wherever he applied. Some SUNY schools are very competitive, so I wouldn’t interpret “recommended” as optional. If you have extra language classes available, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t take them.
They’re available, but the reason they are taken out of my CTE program in the first place is that the foreign language can’t fit onto my schedule.
@TheroadtoNYU
It seems like this thread is going in circles. Yes, your program didn’t make room for a foreign language. However, your school does offer foreign language, and therefore, a counselor’s letter is unlikely to help. Taking a business course instead of a foreign language is going to show that you didn’t take the most academically rigorous courses available. As a rising junior, it’s not too late to take two more years of a foreign language. There are many options for Independent study. My daughter takes Latin via Independent study because she prefers it over the two languages offered at her school. You can argue this point all day but the bottom line is that you’ll have more options if you take a foreign language for the next two years.
You really need to just talk to the counselors at your school. They would know what colleges the graduating students from your program tend to get accepted to, without more than one year of foreign language. Everyone else here is really just guessing since no one else seems to be in a similar program.
I would move any colleges that students don’t get accepted to from your program into a reach category, even if it hasn’t been spelled out that foreign language is required.
After you talk to your counselors, come back and let people here know because it could be helpful for others at some point in the future (and because we are curious!)
Said another way, your high school offers foreign language but the reason those classes don’t fit into your schedule is because you chose a track that doesn’t include them. It sounds to me like your school has a college prep track and what used to be called vo-tech/BOCES (a less rigorous track for kids not planning to go to college) and you chose the vo-tech track. If your GC says it’s too late to switch then that could go in their letter, but I’d talk to them and try to switch to the more rigorous program.
Do you qualify for HEOP/EOP?
Do you hope to attend colleges other than CUNYs?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
In my experience, when a user writes this, he already knows that the answer, as it exists now, is “yes.” That said, there are plenty of experienced posters here who can help change the answer to “no,” but only if the OP answers questions to help the process, which he has not been doing.
That’s my take as well. The OP is in an unidentified NYC public HS (and it is fine not to identify), but clearly we are not talking Stuyvesant or Bronx Science. So we need to have a better feel of what colleges he’s targeting.
If the OP chooses not to answer, I will end up closing, because the conversation, at present, is just going in circles.
Are you eligible for EOP? Hope to do HEOP?
- QUESTION above about your wanting CUNY colleges only or more.
I’m not particularly sure what HEOP/EOP(but I’ll research into it) is and I do hope to attend other non-CUNY colleges. Additionally I would like to apply to a few CUNYs and SUNYs(not sure which ones or how many yet)
Examples: Fordham, NYU, Penn State, etc(I haven’t came up with my full list yet)
Thanks for the stellar advice and I won’t be able to go back to this thread with information from my guidance counselor until September.