Everywhere I look, even on the NYU website, the foreign language requirements seem somewhat uncertain; some say that it is required to take at least 3 years of one language in highschool, some say that 2 years is the minimum and that 3-4 years would be ideal. Could anyone bring some clarity to this please? If this helps, the actual schools I’m looking to apply to are Gallatin and maybe Tisch.
I’m currently a highschool junior and I’m not taking any foreign language classes. Last year I took and passed Spanish 3, and up until this year I have been taking Spanish as a foreign language since 7th grade(I took Spanish 1 in 7th grade and Spanish 2 in 8th, but it was advised that I retake Spanish 2 as a freshmen. I didn’t fail in 8th grade, but I didn’t do the best either). So, only including highschool, I’ve taken 2 years of a foreign language course, but including middle school, excluding 8th grade as I had to repeat Spanish 2 the year after, I have taken 3. Would admissions take this into account and would the year I took Spanish 1 in middle school count towards me actually having 3 years of a foreign language, or would I have to take Spanish 4 senior year if in order to get a 3rd year?
Sorry this is kind of a lot, I was scared of not getting my point across. Any advice helps !!!
From NYU’s common data set (official report for stuff all colleges fill out), they require 3 but recommend 4 years of a language. You might want to call the NYU office or ask your HS counselor to see if your case applies. Were your middle school classes for HS credit?
I don’t think that they were, but we’ve been told by counselors at my school that there was a choice of carrying over a foreign language credit or a math credit to highschool when we left middle school, but I was not aware of that option until I entered highschool.
Generally colleges will look at for example spanish 3 as being 3 years in terms of their requirements. Many students like you have started language in middle school. It may ease your mind to confirm with admissions. The NYU “requirements” are more phrased as recommendations; if the rest of your transcript looks good, especially 4 years in other recommended areas, it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
I was going by (1) the actual NYU website (2) the fact that my daughter is a current freshman at NYU and I know how her high school transcript stacks up against the recommendations.
In any case Spanish 3 almost certainly fulfills the 3-year indication, and if it doesn’t s/he can still do Spanish 4. OP can confirm that with admissions.
You do realize that the common data set is filled out by the institution? I was never saying that MS language won’t work, just that NYU in their official reports say that you need at least 3 language credits. Whether or not MS classes count is up to the office.
I realize the CDS is filled out by the institution. I also realize it’s not infallible, because last year, the CDS listed SAT or ACT as being required for all applicants when that was not the case.
I also realize that the format of the questionnaire does not perfectly capture every college’s actual criteria because it’s standardized. Again, there is more clarity on the NYU website as it can go into more detail than choosing which box to tick on the CDS.
If the “required“ on the CDS was an absolute, my daughter would not be at NYU right now, so I do think I have a little bit of insight into how the admissions process actually takes those factors into account, also informed by having attended info sessions for NYU both at NYU itself and when they visited locally. I understand you are a senior at high school, and I don’t know if your reliance on the CDS means you have not attended any NYU info sessions, but I am talking from actual real experience with an accepted student.
For foreign language, “years”= level reached.
So, students who take Spanish 1, 2a, 2b only have “2 years” even if it took them three years to reach it. Students who take French 1 in middle school, then French 2, 3, and 4 in school have “4 years”.
In short you have the bare minimum required by NYU. Hopefully you’re not applying for a Humanities major and you’re good.
The CDS that you linked to is two years old. I would not make any decisions based on such old data.
The common data set is an optional report and is sometimes at odds with what can be found on a school’s website…in which case, one should defer to the website.
The accuracy of the information on CDSs is not policed…looking at NYU’s, one can see that they don’t even answer many of the questions. There are also significant differences in how schools report certain data points, for example, how they calculate average matriculant HS GPA…meaning those can not be compared from CDS to CDS, or used to categorize schools on a college list. Some schools don’t even complete a CDS at all.
As myos states above, OP’s Spanish 3 will count as 3 years of Spanish, which meets the minimum requirements of several of the schools within NYU…College of Arts and Sciences recommends 2-3 years of FL. Of course, many successful applicants may have more years than that. https://cas.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/cas/academic-programs/bulletin/policies/admission.html
Will me not taking an extra year of foreign language really be that impactful? I was planning on having my major centered around the humanities, specifically creative writing/literature, not so much anything related to social studies. The reason I didn’t want to take it this year was because it was consistently a class I didn’t do very well in, and one that would do less than stellar things to my GPA. I just really didn’t enjoy the class in general. I’ve always taken high-level English classes, and will be taking two English classes next year(AP lit and Creative Writing), should I still do a 4th year of Spanish?
This is a list of classes I’m almost certain I’ll be taking next year:
-Ap lit
-Creative Writing
-American Politics or maybe Ap Gov
Classes I’m somewhat less certain about:
-Ap Computer Science Principles
-Maybe Ap Environmental Science?
I haven’t thought about my full schedule for next year all that much, these are only the classes I have thought about that I think would fit my strengths. (Ignore the absence of a math class, I have no idea what kind of math class I want to take next year)
Sorry if this is annoying, but I’m somewhat hesitant about putting my marks for Spanish up here. I’ve read a lot about people regretting what they write on this website because you can’t delete or edit anything after a set amount of time. I will say that my marks for Spanish were always my lowest, and always made my report card look pretty disproportionate. Maybe somewhere in between a high 70(even that may be slightly generous) and a low 80 at the absolute max? It’s been a little while since I’ve looked at my grades from last year, though.
AP lit, AP Gov, and APES would work for a Humanities major. Creative writing+another history class (or philosophy) would strengthen your profile if Spanish isn’t in the cards.
Round that out with a math class and I think it works.
In any case, build your college list by
figuring out your EFC and whether your parents can afford it (most can’t). Keep in mind this is the minimum amount expected by colleges.
figuring out what exactly you like at NYU (c., Say, creative writing juggernauts like Kenyon or Iowa or colleges that are stronger in writing like Denison or Knox). Then find universities that share some or these characteristics, have a ~50+% acceptance rate and are affordable either through merit or need based aid.
it’s easy to find dream schools. The hard part is building from the ground up, starting with affordable safeties you like and good affordable matches.
