I am writing on behalf of my friend’s family. They are Russians. Their son knows Russian really well. He would like to use Russian to satisfy “language-other-than-English” (LOTE) requirement for college admission. Obviously, his HS doesn’t offer Russian classes. The closest community college that offers Russian is in two hours (driving distance, one way). He took UCLA proficiency test in Russian and completed it (grade A, proficiency equal to 3 years of HS, maximum possible at this test). However, his HS counselor says that many colleges would not accept such document. HS would not accept it either. This kid is a sophomore, so he has some time to fix the problem. He is NOT planning to learn any other foreign language, because is he very loaded with math and comp sci classes that he is taking.
What are his options:
Are there any online college (community college, for-profits) classes in Russian that give credit? Price is not an issue. He needs credit for admission only. Once admitted, he would take college-level test, administered internally by the corresponding college. He knows Russian, this is not an issue. The issue is the absence of LOTE credits in college application.
Are there any tests to demonstrate proficiency in Russian? (There is no Russian SAT exam. Russian AP test is a weird animal, as it is NOT recognized by College Board and colleges. In fact, College Board was not even aware that some internet company is using "AP" brand to promote it's product).
Any other ideas?
The student had not finalized his college list, but planning to apply to UC and a number of top schools. He is a bright kid, I really would like to help him, if possible.
I didn’t look beyond that. I figure if I could answer your question about courses with a simple Google search, you should be able to do your own research.
That being said – I think that when UC requires 2 years of foreign language they want to see students who have expanded their knowledge in high school by studying something they didn’t already know. It is true that heritage speakers of languages commonly taught, such as Spanish, can get away with simply enrolling in that course rather than challenging themselves with another language – but that doesn’t change the intent.
Your friend’s son is looking for a short cut to avoid putting effort into something that other college bound kids at his high school need to do – I can see why the counselor isn’t particularly eager to help him. Perhaps a better approach would be to take 2 years of whatever language is offered at his high school, and take supplemental math/computer courses online instead.
Either that or explore alternative paths to US admission (by examination, or by exception) – or rethink his college goals. Sometimes getting into college means jumping through some hoops and taking courses the student doesn’t want to take. There are also sometimes extenuating circumstance that provide good reasons for a given student to be exempted from a requirement, but pre-existing heritage language proficiency is not one of those.
UC admission is very formulaic, but the other “top schools” you reference probably want to see evidence of students who challenge themselves. Your friend’s son’s plan is likely to backfire in that area, even if he does find the online courses he wants. Obviously even if he can get credit that way, his high school counselor will know that the kid looked for the easy way out of a standard college requirement – and it’s quite possible that will be reflected in the school counselor report that gets presented to colleges he applies to.
For other schools, check each of their web sites and/or ask the schools directly. Some schools want heritage speakers of a non-English language to take an additional language in high school anyway.
What math and CS courses would he be taking that would crowd out space for some other language courses?
Another option is to take summer courses in some other language at a nearby college or university. For example, UCLA offers [Spanish 10](http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-733.htm), equivalent to a full year (three academic quarters) of regular Spanish courses (1, 2, 3) last summer. Other possibilities of this nature at UCLA are [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-78.htm%5DChinese”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-78.htm]Chinese 8/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-701.htm%5DCzech”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-701.htm]Czech 103/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-300.htm%5DFrench”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-300.htm]French 8/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-324.htm%5DGerman”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-324.htm]German 8/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-82.htm%5DJapanese”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-82.htm]Japanese 8/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-706.htm%5DRussian”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-706.htm]Russian 20/url, [url=<a href=“http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-707.htm%5DSerbian/Croatian”>http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-707.htm]Serbian/Croatian 103/url. Probably other languages as well. Of course, these courses are very intense, almost a full time college course load to cram a year’s worth of college foreign language into a summer session.
Being loaded with math and comp-sci classes as a justification to avoid taking foreign languages one is not familiar with wouldn’t have washed at my STEM-centered public magnet. We were all loaded down with math, comp-sci, science, and other requirements.
Everyone was required to take at least 3 years of foreign language in order to fulfill HS graduation requirements.
And students who wanted to take a foreign language in which only a 2 year sequence was offered like Japanese back when I attended ended up having to take another foreign language to fulfill the 3 year foreign language requirement.
Don’t know what the “other top colleges” are, but let’s assume you mean highly competitive.
Yes, lots of top kids are taking lots of math-sci and able to fit in a new FL.
There’s a reason most colleges call this “foreign” language. A Russian kid studying Russian on the side may simply not cut it. He’d really find himself in a crapshoot. Your friend already passed the proficiency tests. He needs to take on this challenge, not try to circumvent (which risks creating its own poor impression.)
Once in a while, a kid misses the 3rd or 4th year of foreign language, usually when the STEM is ultra rigorous, he/she already has extensive DE or a rare opportunity and there’s a schedule conflict. But it’s not ok to miss the experience entirely. What was he doing in 9th and 10th that he couldn’t start this?
This is entirely different than some Asian or Hispanic kid who only speaks the language casually, maybe in dialect, has a limited vocabulary, can’t read, write or analyze in the first language and polishes it through hs classes.
Well, those situations are not fundamentally different. Heritage speakers of a non-English language can take courses in the same language, but should be expected to start at an appropriate level (i.e. most should start at a level higher than the beginner level, or in a course for heritage speakers if offered, though some heritage speakers will start in a higher level than other heritage speakers). Of course, a lack of appropriate level courses in that language can be an impediment.
Seems like everyone suggests to take a different language. Which is scary. My own D (Spanish heritage) took Spanish and AP Spanish at school. I though that it is enough. How is it different from the Russian kid, except that he doesn’t have a luxury of taking Russian through his HS?
Also, why take a new language in HS, if the child wants to major in comp sci?
Not fundamentally different, but one is already skilled and (in my example) the other isn’t. There’s a different context.
OP’s looking for a run-around, not the first time. He can take a language that truly is foreign to him, even online. It won’t be hard for a smart kid and makes much more sense. No short cuts. No pretending one outside course with xxx credits magically fills the intent. Not for a “top” college.
Russian 20 is NOT a summer class, unfortunately. It is not offered during summer semester. It is offered during the regular school hours. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the school schedule.
Because foreign language is a requirement at most top/competitive colleges, and every other high school student he/she is competing with to get into those schools is fulfilling that requirement.
Top colleges want to see foreign language as a part of a rigorous, college-prep curriculum, not as something to be tested through to gain credit. I think the issue is going to be that even a school like MIT would like to see two years of foreign language credit, and not the tested equivalent of such done in a summer. Students can take health over the summer. They shouldn’t take a language requirement. Idealistically, they probably want to see that a student has exposed himself to another culture, to serious study of a language (or if he knows how to speak it, its culture, literature, etc.).
The other (sensible) alternative for non-UC schools would be for the student to all that outside of school and then have the counselor write about it as a way the student took charge of his own learning. Is there somebody in the community the student could pursue an indepdent study of Russian history and literature with (if the student “knows” Russian), supplemented by a Russian immersion program over the summer like NSLI-Y? That’s what the top schools, IMO, want.
For the UCs, if Russian 101 is not an option, I would recommend looking for an advanced Russian literature course that requires basic Russian as a pre-req. It’s not sound pedagogically for a native heritage speaker to be among beginners in a Russian 101 anyways.
(there’s also BYU’s online courses, which look like they provide two years of HS russian. But that will likely be useless and boring for student and teacher alike, but it’s an option.)
No need, as long as the kid doesn’t also want to attend a “top college.”
If he wants to attend a highly competitive college – he’s going to need to be competitive. . If he just wants to study comp sci – there are plenty of technical colleges that welcome all comers, not necessarily a bad choice depending on career goals.
But he’s got to recognize that the choices he makes now have ramifications later.
Because there’s a school of thought that learning a foreign language is a valuable part of one’s generalized education. And it’s something which many other nations’ educational systems also require. Sometimes to a far greater extent. For instance, some European nations require the study of a foreign language or 2 alongside other academic requirements as early as elementary school. My mother and several siblings ended up taking 2 foreign languages to fulfill academic requirements in middle/HS and to prepare for potential majors/career opportunities. Even the Science/tech academic track students in HS weren’t exempt…especially considering many would be required to work and collaborate with colleagues who communicated in other languages.
And this was reflected in the career paths of several engineers in my family. One is fully fluent in Spanish due to spending several years living and working in several Latin-American countries as a licensed engineer and another picked up some Farsi, Japanese, and Arabic from working as a civil engineer in Iran, Japan, and Jordan during the '60s and early '70s.
Incidentally, the salutatorian of my HS graduating class went well beyond the 3-year foreign language requirement in HS even though he ended up majoring in EE at MIT and picking up an MS alongside his BS in the field within 4 years. He ended up advancing so far into German he took advanced college-level German literature courses in German during his later HS years and continued doing so in college. And he had no prior exposure to German before HS nor was his family of German origin/heritage.
To answer your question, yes, there is a way to test his Russian proficiency. Language Testing International http://www.languagetesting.com is the licensee of the ACTFL. Contact universities directly and ask if they will accept LTI certificates. BYU also has language testing available. Many universities use BYU’s testing program for placement.
Whether or not being fluent in Russian and English satisfies admission requirements…I would go directly to the universities and inquire.
Feel sorry.