Question about HS foreign language credits

[zach0624]

I am looking to go to a private college after graduating high school(stanford maybe) or a large state univerity like the UW (I live in Washington state) for either computer science or business major and then a masters after I get my bachelor degree. I just finished my sophmore year of high school but I don't have any foreign language credits yet, I wasn't able to take any foreign language this year(all of the classes were full). I am wondering though is 2 years enough or will I need to take courses over the summer?

I have a 4.0 (I know that that isn't very hard) dominated my PSAT (98th percentile my sophmore year so I will probably get 99th for my junior year) and also dominated the WASL (Washingtons required standardized test which isn't looked at by colleges). I have been taking advanced courses anywhere I could and will take pre-cal next year and chemistry and AP biology senior year.

 

[Savij]

Whatever it takes to graduate high school. Unless you take an AP foreign language or do something exceptional with it, it probably won't make a difference. Take actual classes or play a sport instead.

 

[Ballatician]

Be wary of where you take courses over the summer since certain colleges don't accept community college credit unless they offer a degree in the subject. With that being said, a second language would definitely be helpful in todays workplace and also makes you more well-rounded. To answer your question - yes, 2 years is enough.

 

[nageov3t]

it varies from university to university.

I can't imagine any college is going to expect more than 2 years unless you're applying to a foreign language program (ie: spanish departments are probably going to expect that incoming spanish majors are semi-fluent), since 2 years seems to be the standard for 99.9999% of high school.

we were forced to take 4 years of foreign language classes in high school (jesuit school -- everyone had to take 2+ years of latin and another 2 years of a modern foreign language), but I don't require ever running into any colleges that requred more than 2 when I was looking around.

 

[shopbruin]

UW Freshman Requirements:

http://admit.washington.edu/Requirements/Freshman/Core

They say only 2 years, I would do at least 3. The University of California also requires 2 years, recommends 3, and most people do 4.

I couldn't find an exact requirement list on the Stanford website... but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the admitted students did 3-4 years. I know the people that I knew that got into Stanford did 4 years (and were super nerds in other areas...)

 

[Ricemarine]

Um... I did Running Start... so all UW cared for was that I had completed up to 103 in a certain language (in my case, Japanese). But other than that, 2 years HS minimum for admission.

I am going to UW next year. Class of '11 if I stay on course, Class of '12 if not.

 

[zach0624]

Thanks everyone. I will see if I can take a class over either this summer or next. My high school does have a summer computer-based system for getting extra or missed credits (probably not the best option) and I know the local community college has some classes over the summer. Even if I can't get it on my transcript it won't hurt to do.

And Savij I have taken all advanced classes offered so far from my school and even my vocational credits have been taken in our business/tech department and I am playing varsity basketball.

 

[Flammable]

you sound like one of the smart kids i hate on the outside but envy

 

[RESmonkey]

Varies. Over at UIUC where I'm going, Engineering only requires 3 semesters worth (successful completion of the third level of any language). All other majors need 4.

 

[mugs]

2 years is all you need, but if you take more you may test out of a year or two of foreign language in college. My college required 2 years (4 semesters) of a foreign language for a BA, but none for a BS (there were other requirements). So consider your future college's requirements.

 

[Paperdoc]

The best answer is to go to the university (...ies) (websites for starters) you want to attend and look closely at the admissions requirements for the specific programs you want.

My high school and university days were long ago. But for minor amusement: in my PhD program the outline said I would have to take one foreign language course, designed to develop enough skill to read technical journal articles. My advisory committee told me to take FORTRAN so I could do work on computers. Probably more practical than a "language" in the traditional sense. Besides, it was fun!

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: zach0624
I am looking to go to a private college after graduating high school(stanford maybe) or a large state univerity like the UW (I live in Washington state) for either computer science or business major and then a masters after I get my bachelor degree. I just finished my sophmore year of high school but I don't have any foreign language credits yet, I wasn't able to take any foreign language this year(all of the classes were full). I am wondering though is 2 years enough or will I need to take courses over the summer?

I have a 4.0 (I know that that isn't very hard) dominated my PSAT (98th percentile my sophmore year so I will probably get 99th for my junior year) and also dominated the WASL (Washingtons required standardized test which isn't looked at by colleges). I have been taking advanced courses anywhere I could and will take pre-cal next year and chemistry and AP biology senior year.

Here's some non academic advice. Listen to it. Carefully.

Don't let yourself, your friends or anyone else turn you complacent or lazy. Keep doing your homework, all the way to the end of high school. Study, even when you don't really need to. These are important skills for college, where you WILL need to do the math HW to understand it, and WILL have to study to get A's.

Have fun and all, but do the schoolwork first, then be an idiot later on. High school was so easy for me that I had no idea how to study, and really still don't, and I'm in law school, where those skills would probably help me get more A's instead of A- and B+. To a certain extent, if you're smart, you can probably do very little studying and ride it for the rest of your life, probably doing pretty well along the way. I'm suggesting you don't start down that road now, as if I could change one thing of my own, that'd be it.

As you get to various phases of life, work ethic and the ability to see things through to completion become a lot more important than your raw intelligence. Keep up the motivation now, so you don't have to learn how to do that later. Professionally, I see a lot of very motivated people of average intelligence -- they had to work for every B, even, as well a lot of less-than-motivated but very, very smart people -- they never had to do shit, still dont, and manage to do better than most. The combination of an intelligent, motivated person is rare at all but the very top end of the workforce in my experience. Lay the groundwork for that now.

 

[oddyager]

This varies from school to school. In my case I had to take at least one of the official "science" languages which was either German, French or Russian and I took none of those in HS. I did however take 7 years of Italian. My counselor at the time in Purdue didn't want that to go to waste so she had me go through an "interview" with the Director of Foreign Languages (don't remember the exact title) and have him decide what to do. All it was basically carry a conversation with him and after about 2 hours I was immediately awarded all 9 credits needed for the BS degree.

That said, 2 years more than enough.

 

[ViviTheMage]

german 1/ german 2 is what the u of m - twin cities looked for...that was 8 credits for us.every school has there owned fucked up credit scheme.