<p>Hello, I was reading the admissions requirements for the school of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I was confused because the requirements said 3 years of one foreign language, then below that it said something that contradicted the requirement and could not find any form of clarification. I would gladly appreciate it if anyone could help me find out this information. Thanks!</p>
<p>The page says that three years are required, but then says this</p>
<p>"If you enter the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign without three years of the same foreign language in high school, you must take a foreign language placement test to determine the courses in which you should enroll. All curricula in the College of Fine and Applied Arts have a two-year foreign language/fine arts requirement for admission.</p>
<p>Students admitted to the university with foreign language taken in high school may continue their study of this foreign language at the placement test level."</p>
<p>I agree their explanation is quite confusing. In addition to the statement you quoted, they say, “[The graduation” requirement may be satisfied by:
Successfully completing a third semester college foreign language;
Having taken three years of the same foreign language in high school; or
Demonstrating proficiency at the third semester level in a language proficiency examination approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the appropriate department."</p>
<p>I would take it to mean that you either </p>
<p>1) already have taken three years of one language in high school in which case you’re done: you don’t need to take any more </p>
<p>2) Have taken two (or 2.5) years of one language, in which case you have to complete the equivalent of Illinois’ college level three semester requirement. A placement test determines how many semesters you need to take, any where from 1 to 3.</p>
<p>But, I’d strongly suggest that you write to them to clarify.</p>
<p>Looking at the BS Architecture curriculum, I’d say that there’s a reasonable leeway to fit in language courses in the first year, but that these would be at the expense of other electives.</p>
<p>So your best option is as they say in their FAQ, take 3 years of the same language in high school. (Or find a college that doesn’t have such a tough language requirement.)</p>
<p>We found a number of schools require 3 years of a foreign language - the hard way. One semester of French was outright not shown in my daughter’s transcript (Docufide). We never got a hardcopy to look carefully until one adcom emailed us “you took French 3-B but not 3-A”…</p>