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Colleges with Foreign Language Requirements for Graduation
In high school, you’re probably required to take a foreign language. Perhaps you love learning French, Spanish, Mandarin, German, or whatever you’ve chosen to pursue. Or maybe you’re not a big language fan and can’t wait to head off to college where you never have to touch another language again. Either way, there are plenty of benefits to learning a foreign language, both business and personal. But that doesn’t mean it’s everyone’s cup of tea. If you’d prefer to stick to English, it is possible to avoid taking a language in college. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the colleges with foreign language requirements. For some career paths, it’s mandatory to know at least two languages, including translation and diplomacy, to name a couple. But even if you’re not considering pursuing a career that requires foreign language skills, they can still be useful for certain other jobs, such as teaching, customer service, journalism, medicine and many others. Love to travel? Dreaming of studying abroad in college? (Post-pandemic, of course.) Studying a foreign language will expand your options and be enormously helpful when you get to your destination of choice. That’s what I found when I studied abroad in Florence in my junior fall semester after taking two years of Italian. (Sure, I still ended up getting lost — a lot — but that was more due to my terrible sense of direction than my language skills.) There are countless ways knowing a foreign language could prove useful to you in the future. It may not seem directly applicable to your career path, but it could help you in your everyday life, whether you make friends who aren’t native English speakers, or want to be able to order your favorite meal at an ethnic restaurant. Knowing another language also connects you to another culture and helps you be a more understanding and open-minded person. Some schools have a core curriculum with a set of mandatory courses or distribution requirements. Other schools have an open curriculum that allows students to take any courses they want, as long as they fulfill their major requirements. Only 11.5% of colleges surveyed from over 1,000 had a foreign language requirement, according to the 2020 American Council of Trustees and Alumni study. The below institutions have a foreign language requirement (bear in mind that many colleges have foreign language requirements for particular majors and programs, even if they’re not included on this list). We also recommend double-checking before applying, as these policies are subject to change. College State Agnes Scott College GA Albright College PA Asbury University KY Austin College TX Baylor University TX Boston College MA Boston University MA Brandeis University MA Butler University IN Calvin University MI Campbell University NC Carleton College MN Catawba College NC Catholic University of America DC Centre College KY Chapman University CA Claremont McKenna College CA Colby College ME Colgate University NY College of Charleston SC College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University MN Columbia University NY Converse College SC Cornell College IA Cornell University NY Christendom College VA Christopher Newport University VA Dartmouth College NH Davidson College NC Dickinson College PA Drew University NJ Duke University NC Fairfield University CT Fisk University TN Florida State University FL Franklin & Marshall College PA Gallaudet University DC Gardner-Webb University NC Georgetown College KY Georgetown University DC Hampden-Sydney College VA Howard University DC Hunter College NY Illinois Wesleyan University IL King University TN Lawrence University WI Lewis & Clark College OR Loyola University Maryland MD Macalester College MN Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts NH Mercy College NY Meredith College NC Miami University OH Morehouse College GA New York University NY Northwestern University IL The Ohio State University OH Pepperdine University CA Pomona College CA Presbyterian College SC Princeton University NJ Randolph-Macon College VA Rhodes College TN Roanoke College VA Rollins College FL Saint Mary’s College of California CA Saint Vincent College PA Salem College NC Scripps College CA Sewanee: The University of the South TN Shenandoah University VA Soka University of America CA Southern Connecticut State University CT Southwestern University TX Spelman College GA St. Bonaventure University NY St. John’s College MD St. John’s College NM St. Olaf College MN SUNY Binghamton NY SUNY–Geneseo NY SUNY–Potsdam NY Syracuse University NY Texas Tech University TX Thomas Aquinas College CA Thomas More College of Liberal Arts NH Trinity University TX Tufts University MA Tulane University LA University of California–San Diego • Eleanor Roosevelt College • Revelle College CA University of Cincinnati OH University of Colorado–Boulder CO University of Connecticut CT University of Dallas TX University of Georgia GA University of Hawaii–Manoa HI University of Illinois–Chicago IL University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign IL University of Iowa IA University of Mary Washington VA University of Maryland–Baltimore County MD University of Miami FL University of Michigan–Ann Arbor MI University of Mississippi MS University of Nebraska–Lincoln NE University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill NC University of North Carolina–Greensboro NC University of Notre Dame IN University of Oklahoma OK University of Oregon OR University of Pennsylvania PA University of Pittsburgh–Greensburg PA University of Richmond VA University of Saint Katherine CA University of San Diego CA University of Southern California CA University of Tennessee–Knoxville TN University of Virginia–Charlottesville VA University of Wisconsin–Madison WI Virginia Wesleyan University VA Wake Forest University NC Washington & Lee University VA Wellesley College MA Westminster College PA Wheaton College IL William & Mary VA Willamette University OR Wyoming Catholic College WY Yale University CT Yeshiva University NY Yeshiva University–Stern College for Women NY Foreign language requirements are one factor to consider when you’re searching for the college for you, but they’re not the only one. From the programs offered to the location, there are many angles to take into account when you’re looking for the best fit for you. CollegeVine’s free school-search tool will help you find the right matches based on your preferences, such as size, type, programs offered, and more. And once you find those ideal fits, check out our chancing engine, which will estimate your odds of admission to your dream schools based on your academic and extracurricular profiles. Both tools are free to use!
What’s Covered:
Benefits of Studying a Language in College
1. It can open the doors to some careers.
2. It’s useful for study abroad and other travel experiences.
3. You never know when it might come in handy.
Colleges that Require You to Take a Language
How to Find the Right College for You
