Do you think that colleges will accept American Sign Language as a foreign language?

SillBill · 08-31-2007, 01:39 PM

Being a homeschooled student, I've only had one year of Spanish. I know all of the grammatical rules, etc., but as far as speaking it, I barely know enough to get by. I was going to put down just my 1 year of Spanish on my application and hope for the best (even though most schools "strongly prefer" 2-4 years), but then I was thinking -- does ASL (American Sign Language) count as a foreign language? No, it's not "foreign" in the typical sense, but it sure is VERY, VERY different than spoken English.... and if I'm fluent in it, would that count for something?

Thanks for any help!

P.S. I'm applying to some top colleges if that's relevant.

Northstarmom · 08-31-2007, 02:00 PM

You need to ask the admissions officers at colleges that interest you. They probably would give some consideration to ASL, but may still have you fulfill a foreign language requirement once you're in college.

mj93 · 08-31-2007, 02:03 PM

It's a foreign language class at my HS (if that says anything).

golddustwoman · 09-02-2007, 07:47 PM

Yeah, I've got three years of it and that's what i'm doing to fulfill my foreign language requirement.

And just to note, it takes a lot to be truly fluent in sign language, and few non-native speakers really reach the point where you can't tell if they're native or not. It's extremely different from learning a spoken language.

teriwtt · 09-02-2007, 10:39 PM

our high school offered sign language at one point, but was a victim of budget cuts; and yes, it was part of the foreign language department. The guidance counselors always warned people that very few colleges will accept ASL as a foreign language.

kyledavid80 · 09-03-2007, 12:00 AM

It should -- many high schools offer it along with a bunch of other languages. By the "foreign language" requirement, it's more a "non-English language" requirement.

andreaaaaaa · 09-03-2007, 12:53 AM

Quote:

The guidance counselors always warned people that very few colleges will accept ASL as a foreign language.

same here. our ASL classes are offered as "occupational education" credit, not foreign language.

bartleby · 09-03-2007, 05:16 AM

The University of California accepts them as they would any other language. I'm less sure, but I believe UMich does as well. Yale accepts it as satisfying university requirements, so I'd guess they would do the same for admissions purposes.
http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publ...ibutional.html

The best advise, I'd say, was what Northstarmom said - ask the admissions counselors. There are way too many colleges for there to be a single, easy answer to such a question.

sugarjunkie · 09-28-2007, 07:17 PM

I'm kind of in the same boat- I wanted to take French my sophomore year, but my schedule didn't work out and Spanish didn't really interest me, so I signed up for ASL. I love it. My teacher's Deaf and the insight into Deaf culture and all is amazing. I'm planning on taking ASL three next year, but I'm scared that it's going to hurt my chances for college admission. I'm looking at applying at Emory next year and they don't accept it, so I emailed them and they sent me back a reply saying that they understood that sometimes things don't work out, exc, exc. I don't know if they're just saying that.....I could start taking French classes at the community college to make sure I get the credit, but that's a ton of extra work....any thoughts?

pinnipotto · 09-28-2007, 07:32 PM

I'm really surprised to hear that some colleges don't consider ASL a foreign language! Sorry this post is non-helpful, but I just wanted to share that I feel bad for anyone who has extensive ASL ability and is considered lacking in foreign language...that just seems silly.