I’m sorry if this is the wrong page to post on. I’ve seen some of these posts already made but I wanted to make one specific to my situation as well.
To start off, I already speak another language. I am native Brazilian (immigrant) and fluent in Portuguese. My school also does not need a foreign language to graduate.
I transferred to this high school my sophomore year, and joined one of their academies to graduate from. The academy I’m in requires a specific amount of ‘points’ from taken classes. Because of this, my original counselor suggested that I don’t take foreign language because it wasn’t needed, I’m already bilingual, and I couldn’t focus on fulfilling my academy requirements.
Now that I’m applying to colleges, more and more are saying that I need two years of foreign language. My original transfer counselor is not at my school anymore, and my associate principal says the only thing I can prove my bilingual ability is by taking a test in March, but that will be too late by the time I send in my early applications.
I’m really confused, because I was told this wouldn’t have any effect on colleges, and it was a direct recommendation by my counselor. My school also knows I’m multilingual because my principal had me take a test sophomore year for all multilingual students.
Yes, each college may have a different policy on the matter.
Some might accept completion of 9th grade in a Portuguese speaking school to be sufficient. Others may want some kind of proof of proficiency through some testing, or completion of a higher level course in Portuguese (probably at a college that offers that, which is probably less common than for some other languages).
I agree that you should talk to some combination of your guidance counselor and admissions at schools that you intend to apply to.
Just as one data point from a long time ago. I went to high school in Montreal. The only languages that I ever spoke were English and French. As you might imagine, in Montreal neither of these count as a “foreign language”. Universities in the US seemed to be fine with this, since French was foreign enough for them. With this in mind I would expect that Portuguese would also be foreign enough for them. How to demonstrate your fluency in Portuguese is another issue which I would not be familiar with. I do wonder whether the test that you took sophomore year would be sufficient.
Note that Princeton lists the set of high school courses as “recommended” rather than “required”, presumably to give themselves discretion in some situations without having to spell out every possible case.
Are you interested in public schools in your state of residence? If you are not required to have foreign language credits to graduate high school it is very likely that your state’s public universities do not require foreign language.
Would you consider public schools in less popular states? Neither the University of Oklahoma nor the University of Arkansas require foreign language.
If you are a Brazilian citizen or a heritage speaker living in the US, you can take the NEWL.
If you aren’t and are up to 17 now, you can take the Camoes Jr (certification exams for secondary school students) and if you’re 18 already you can take the adult version (though it’s more appropriate for college graduates).
Can I get into a school without taking foreign languages? [immigrant, native speaker of Portuguese]
Yes. There will be many colleges where this will be no issue. But there will be some colleges where this will be an issue. Without knowing the colleges you’re targeting, no blanket statement can be made.
On another subject, you should change your username. This link tells you how.
I don’t plan on applying to extremely selective colleges, so yes! I am just worried because it lists as an admissions requirement. I wouldn’t mind taking language classes during college at all.
My associate principal said that the only testing available is one she’d have access to in March, which would be too late for early action admissions.
I would be fine with taking language courses in colleges because I don’t have anything on my transcript, I’m just worried I won’t even be accepted into them…
Thank you!
I transferred private HS to public HS, so I had a specific counselor talk to me about my credits and academy decisions before I was assigned my actual school counselor. So I don’t have her to vouch for me to say that they recommended me to not take any foreign language, and that this wasn’t a mistake on my end.
I’d simply contact the schools you are interested, explain you haven’t taken language but you can price proficiency in Portuguese and see what they say.
Maybe you can take a CC class, summer intensive, test out …or if it’s a no go move to the next school. There are colleges with very high, even 100% acceptance rates. You’ll get into collehe bit May need to work a bit to find one. Or maybe not. Call and ask.
Second language - 2 units
High School Coursework Requirements
Two units of the same language
Or SAT & ACT Score
Attain a minimum score on a national standardized language test, such as AP or CLEP Examination scores; or earn certified placement into third college-level semester of higher based on an exam given by an accredited institution of higher education; or other forms of verification are available.
Or College Coursework to Offset Deficiencies
One year of study in the same language; includes American Sign Language
What the OP needs to do is ask the university. Or provide a projected college list for users to comment upon. Since without that, some suggestions aren’t applicable. E.g.
No test for Portuguese
Few CC’s offer Portuguese. And even fewer would offer the upper-level Portuguese courses that would challenge a native Brazilian
^ That’s why I suggested the 2 tests above, that certify either heritage/native proficiency or US learner/heritage proficiency.
They’re available throughout the US or online (depending on the test) and are recognized by US universities.
The safest route is to email every university on your list and explain (you’re a Portuguese native or heritage speaker so 1st GC suggested you focus on English/not take further FL classes, if needed you can take the NEWL or the PFL Camoes Jr certification certified by el Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Portugal, would that semarisfy their admission requirements for FL?)
If required, you would need the certificate by HS graduation, not when you apply.
Don’t forget to run the NPC on every college you intend to apply to.
Btw I strongly recommend you look into these https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/portuguese
Portuguese speakers from these programs are HIGHLY sought after, including by “alphabet agencies”.
I never took ESL classes, I did have to take a test that my associate principal said they give to all multilingual students for English even though she said they didn’t use it for English proficiency, so it’s not like they don’t know I’m bilingual? I’m not sure.
I have been emailing colleges and the typical response is “put it in the common app, we’ll see it there” and no actual comment on what it’ll do to affect my chances, so maybe I’ll be fine?
Sorry, I’m not really sure on what I should mention or not here.
The toughest schools I’m applying to would be UMich and UChicago. I’ve already emailed UMich and she told me that they’ll just see a holistic review of my application, and no reply from UChicago.
Other schools would be UIUC, ASU, University of Washington, UW-Madison, and a variety of other state schools. I’ve sent emails to all of these, but only UIUC responded with “put it in common app.”