First of all, sorry if this is the wrong category to post under. I can make a new thread in chances/matches if need be.
Anyway, I believe I’ve screwed up. My state (Texas) allows you to fulfill your foreign language requirement by taking computer science classes. Despite my counselor warning against it, I “took advantage” of this and have now made it to my senior year with no foreign language credits whatsoever.
Now that I’ve actually started seriously looking into colleges and admissions (it may have been another mistake starting this late), I’ve realized that this will probably look really bad. However, I intend to apply to competitive schools (some Ivies and a few other T20s), and I’ve noticed that virtually none of them have a hard-set foreign language requirement for first year admissions, though they do “strongly recommend” that each applicant have three to four years under their belt.
So, my question is: Could I feasibly make up for this deficit with the rest of my application? Or would it be a waste of an application fee to even try? I think that the rest of my app is pretty alright; I scored a 1580 on the SAT, hold a president position, compete in (and, for what it’s worth, go to state in) a handful of events, have been accepted to an internship at a biggish company, and am well within the top two percent of my class (not quite one, though)—but so is 99% of my competition, and they took real language courses.
I could even take something like Spanish I my senior year, and I might even be able to take one this summer, giving me two years at best. I could even try to self-study a language and test out of it as a last resort, but I’m not sure any of this would even help.
Sorry for the wall of text. Bottom line, should I even bother applying to more prestigious schools with 0-2 years of foreign language on my transcript, or do I need to lower my standards significantly to even have hope of acceptance?
I would not stress about this. Your guidance counselor should write a note to accompany your transcript saying that Texas allows computer science as a language class. What language(s) did you learn and work with?
I would go ahead and apply wherever you like. However, once on campus, you may have to take foreign language at the school where you are admitted. For that reason, you could get a start on Spanish in your senior year.
If you can’t find website info on the language requirement at universities and colleges that you are interested in- before admission and once on campus-, you or your guidance counselor could call. But according to the state of Texas, you have been taking a language course.
There’s nothing you can do about it now. Apply and see what happens. You are at a disadvantage though.
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While I usually agree with most of what @compmom says, be aware that admissions officers don’t care what the state of Texas says. Almost without exception, the recommended HS preparation for T20s will always exceed state diploma requirements.
Also be aware that most T20s have a foreign language requirement to graduate, generally 2-4 semesters. So instead of taking 2-4 classes taught by internationally renowned professors, you would now need to take 2-4 classes taught by a non-tenured lecturer at best, or a grad student at worst. If you get in.
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Fortunately, OP should be an auto-admit to UT, which is a fine school.
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IMO this is a big miss, especially since OP says the guidance counselor warned against not taking a FL.
Thankfully you have your auto admit to UT if you are top 2% if your class.
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Your application will be judged alongside all of the others from your school/geographic area. If other applicants took 4 years of foreign language and you did not, they will potentially look more desirable. It isn’t necessarily a matter of automatic rejection but more in the context of what everyone else did.
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Top schools will sometimes look past something like this if your application has other (notable) merits.
Just to clarify: does your school offer and suggest 4 years of the same language?
Once on campus many schools hold placement exams. If you have not taken any FL, you would have to take the required semesters to graduate at many schools. So getting a head start makes sense.
I would call admissions to ask about this. I do not think this should prevent you from applying. Especially if you have a genuine interest in computer science.
In our experience, tops schools were more flexible than commonly thought and admissions folks respected authentic interests that were pursued at the cost of the usual recommendations. But for this case, I can’t say anything for sure: ask. And ask if you should take Spanish in senior year and/or the summer.
It’s easy enough to take an online class too. VHS Learning | VHS Learning
I agree with other comments. I do think, if the rest of your app is going to be quite notable, that there is no harm in applying, but the lack of FL is going to be a mark against you. I think the rest of your transcript will be closely scrutinized and your teacher recs will need to be outstanding. There is no way you can ensure that they will be.
One reason why colleges like to see FL on a student’s transcript is because FL is very challenging, especially if you end up taking the recommended three/four years. High grades in FL can show a desirable level of rigor, ability and work ethic. I imagine AO’s will be looking for a lot of rigor in the rest of your transcript because they will want to be assured that you’re capable of doing the work should they admit you.
Edit: Colleges won’t automatically reject your app, but when they “recommend” that students take a certain number of high school course, they actually mean it’s pretty much required. BUT maybe you’re a student who has other issues that prevented you from doing the recommended courses. Maybe your school offered no higher level course, or maybe your family obligations meant you had no room in your schedule to take such courses, or maybe you have an educational exemption due to a documented learning disability. Hope that clarifies things.
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Since you are targeting top schools for CS, then you might be applying to UC Berkeley, UCLA and/or UC San Diego? UC’s have a 2 year minimum requirement for Foreign Language. It can be fulfilled by taking 2 years (3 recommended) of HS FL, 2 semesters of a community college FL (UC transferable) or Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP Exam in Chinese Language and Culture, French Language and Culture, German Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, Japanese Language and Culture, Spanish Language, Spanish Language and Culture, Spanish Literature and Culture or Latin; score of 5, 6 or 7 on an IB Language A2 HL exam.
UC’s are also test blind this admission cycle and do not consider LOR’s (exception UCB if invited to submit) and will not consider counselor documentation regarding the lack of an FL.
The UC application does have a check to make sure applicant has completed the a-g course requirements and will flag if there is anything lacking.
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The mistake he was that the GC advised against taking CS instead of FL and the student still chose to take CS.
In my experience, those “recommended” courses for top 20 colleges are actually minimum requirements. There won’t be very many students applying there who haven’t fulfilled them.
UT Austin fortunately is a fabulous college.
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The AO’s we spoke with during D20’s application process all said they value student choice in classes but only AFTER meeting the requirements/suggestions.
Also, the Texas state requirements will be understood by TX schools. If other options were available, schools elsewhere may not be as understanding.
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I wonder if it’s possible to test out of foreign language?
Both my kids are at T20 colleges and they only took 1 actual year of foreign language while at HS (AP during 9th grade). They received, during middle school, credits for HS Level 1-3 by taking a single test. These credits appeared on HS transcript but they did not attend any classes for these.
Just remember, that T20 schools get 10’s of thousands of applications every year, and they are not doing in in-depth review of each one. Although they are all different, they all are going to take a first pass cut based on some minimum requirements (might be GPA. test scores, or years of a certain subject). You could always take Spanish 101 this summer, check your local college or look for an on-line course and then try and take Spanish 102 in next year
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I know kids who got into top colleges without the recommended or even required courses, but they were extraordinary in some say. I don’t think the first cut is always based on stats.
The GC did advise against the path you took, so that is an obstacle.
If a music kid doesn’t take all the recommended foreign language because, on the schedule, it conflicted with, say, music theory, that kind of thing is understood by colleges. If you have a driving interest in computer science and could only take it if you omitted foreign language, then that would work too.
I think you should actually call admissions or email them (and don’t talk to a student) and find out what you need to do, or don’t need to do.
But it is certain you will need to take foreign language in college unless you stay in Texas or some other schools count computer science/languages as FL.
I would take a year of FL during your senior year to show that you place some value on learning this.
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I doubt this is the OP’s situation…there hasn’t been any mention of prior study or exposure to an actual non-computer foreign language.
@bruhfeefee, If you can, try to take the first level of a language this summer, and level 2 next year. One high school level is considered equal to one semester of college foreign language, so you may be able to cover a year’s worth of college FL. IMO, Spanish may be the most straightforward to learn in a short time (as well as the second most spoken after Mandarin).
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I don’t think this is a big deal at all. You sound like a very interesting and desirable applicant, and the SAT score will help a lot. If you followed your interests and used the space in your schedule to take other challenging classes (as opposed to pottery, PE, etc.), I doubt the lack of FL will make much difference. The rest of your application—grades, scores, schedule rigor, activities—will matter much more. I know enough kids who were accepted to top colleges with minimal or no FL that I wouldn’t be surprised if the admit rate is higher among those with no FL than those with some (given that the vast majority of applicants will have some). Of course, there might be a few where it will matter, but you likely won’t be a good fit at those anyway. I’d just be prepared with a brief explanation of your choice: schedule conflicts, desire to pursue other interests, etc.
As far as colleges requiring FL for graduation as some have mentioned, that’s not really the case. Plenty of BS and BSE grads out there from great schools. Now, if you plan to pursue a BA or attend a school that does require FL to graduate, then I do think getting a year of language under your belt would probably ease your transition to the first year of college.
Also, as others mention, UT is a great school and top ten in some fields.
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Wholeheartedly agree! Take the first semester of Spanish this summer at a community college or online, e.g. through BYU. Then take the next level at your high school during your senior year. You don’t want to raise any unnecessary red flags that could give AOs a reason to eliminate your application.
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