UC application requirements for LOTE (Language Other than English) states
## E) Language other than English High school courses Two years, or equivalent to the 2nd level of high school instruction, of the same language other than English are required.
My child has completed Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish III and Chinese I. (all are semester long courses, so it is 3 semesters of Spanish I, II, III and one semester of Chinese I).
Would completing “Spanish II” in North Carolina, meet the “second level of high school instructions” mentioned above for LOTE to apply to UC Universities? or would we need to take “Spanish IV” as well?
In North Carolina, she took,
Spanish 1 - First Semester 9th grade
Spanish 2 - Second Semester 9th grade
Spanish 3 Honors - First Semester 10th grade
Chinese 1 Honors - First Semester 11th grade.
And I’ll toss this out…you will likely be paying the full cost of attendance which is about $75,000 a year for the UCs. Just make sure that is affordable.
You are lucky to have a number of excellent and less costly public university options in North Carolina.
There is actually a poster on this forum who relocated to NC from CA for the college options at an affordable price. Hopefully someone else remembers her screen name and can tag her.
Just curious, in California high schools, is Spanish 1 and 2 are semester long courses or year long courses?
In NC these different levels of courses are only semester long.
What’s confusing is, the course requirements page says , “2 years or 2 levels of high school instruction.”
Even though she may not have 2 years of LOTE but she has 3 levels of LOTE high school instruction.
This looks like level 1.5 in Spanish and level 0.5 in Chinese, so that does not meet the level 2 minimum (with level 3 preferred) for UC. An exception would be if the high school were on some sort of block scheduling system where students take 3-4 courses per semester, but each course is equivalent to a full year course at most high schools. If that is the case, then the above would look like level 3 in Spanish and level 1 in Chinese. Another exception would be if these were actual college courses, where a semester in college is like a year or more in high school.
What level of Spanish is the AP level (even though the student apparently did not get that far)?
If AP level is 5, then it looks like your school is on a block system where each semester course covers what is usually covered in a year at most high schools. (AP level is normally year 4-6, depending on the high school; if each course level only covers a semester of material, AP level would be semester 8-12.)
I know it was not asked, but would like to reinforce Thumper’s point. With extremely rare exception, UC does not offer need-based aid to OOS students. Unless you are a wealthy family, why would you want to pay sticker for a public, when for a few dollars more your kid could attend an excellent private (with merit aid)?
This. Also, many of the California student applicants know how competitive the UC’s are, and are often advised to meet the minimum requirements but choose to complete 4 years of LOTE. All 3 of my children took 4 years of a LOTE, as well as many of their friends. It’s competitive. Make sure she has completed the F requirement (Visual/Performing Arts) for a grade. This trips up many OOS applicants as it is a year-long course requirement.
