Foreign Language Requirements for College

One would think that high school graduation requirements in the area of foreign language would match those of the nation’s premier colleges and universities. Sadly, that would be giving the public educational system far too much credit. Presently, 23 U.S. states do not require the two years of foreign language study that is required for admittance into many colleges. Therefore, an unfortunate number of high school students may mistakenly think that they do not need to take a language to get into their dream university—after all, their high school must know what it's doing, right? Before a teenager decides whether or not to say "bonjour," "hola," or "hallo" to the language of their choosing, they should be fully aware of the standards for admission at their prospective schools. Below, College Transitions has put together a list of foreign language requirements at many of the top institutions in the United States.

*Data collected from institution websites and 2020-21 Common Data Set (CDS) forms.

Table updated October 2021

Institution	Foreign Language units (Required)	Foreign Language units (Recommended)	Tags
University of Alabama at Birmingham	1
University of Alabama	1	2
Auburn University		1
Birmingham Southern College
Samford University	2	2
Arizona State University	2		ASU
University of Arizona	2	2	UA
Northern Arizona University	2		NAU
University of Arkansas		2
Hendrix College	2	2
California Institute of Technology		3	Caltech
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo	2	4
Cal Poly, Pomona	2
California State University, Fresno	2
California State University, Fullerton	2	2
California State University, Long Beach	2	2
University of California, Berkeley	2	3	UC Berkeley
University of California, Davis	2	3	UC Davis
University of California, Irvine	2	3	UC Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles	2	3	UCLA
University of California, Riverside	2	3	UCR; UC Riverside
University of California, San Diego	2	3	UCSD; UC San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara	2	3	UCSSB; UC Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz	2	3	UCSC; UC Santa Cruz
Chapman University	2	4
Claremont McKenna College	3	3	CMC
Harvey Mudd College		2	HMC
Loyola Marymount University		3	LMU
Occidental College		3	OXY
University of the Pacific		2
Pepperdine University
Pitzer College	3	3
Pomona College	3	4
University of Redlands	2	3
San Diego State University	3		SDSU
University of San Diego	3	4	USD
San Francisco State University	2	2	SFSU
University of San Francisco	2		USF
San Jose State University	2		SJSU
Santa Clara University	2	3	SCU
Scripps College	3
Saint Mary's College of California	2	3
Sonoma State University	2	2
University of Southern California	2	3	USC
Westmont College	2	3
Whittier College	2	3
University of Colorado Boulder	3		CU Boulder
Colorado College			CC
Colorado School of Mines	1	2
Colorado State University	1	2	CSU
University of Denver		2
University of Northern Colorado	1	1	UNC
United States Air Force Academy		2	USAA
Connecticut College
University of Connecticut	2	3	UCONN
Eastern Connecticut State University	2	2
Fairfield University	2	4
Quinnipiac University	2	2
Sacred Heart University	2	4
Southern Connecticut State University	2	4
Trinity College	3
United States Coast Guard Academy			USCGA
Wesleyan University		4
Yale University
University of Delaware	2	4
American University	2	3	AU
Catholic University of America	3	3
George Washington University	2	4	GWU; GW
Georgetown University	2	4
Howard University	2	2
University of Central Florida	2		UCF
Eckerd College		2
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University			ERAU
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	2
Florida Atlantic University	2		FAU
Florida Institute of Technology		2	FIT
Florida International University	2		FIU
Florida Southern College		2
Florida State University	2	4	FSU
University of Florida	2		UFL
University of Miami		4	UM
University of North Florida	2		UNF
Rollins College	2	3
University of South Florida	2	2	USF
Stetson University	2
University of Tampa	2	2
Agnes Scott College	2	2
Berry College	2
Emory University		4
Georgia Institute of Technology	2		Georgia Tech
Georgia College	2
Georgia Southern University	2		GSU
Georgia State University	2	2	GSU
University of Georgia	2	3	UGA
Mercer University	2
Morehouse College		2
Spelman College	2	2
Boise State University		2
University of Idaho
Augustana College	1	2
Bradley University		2
University of Chicago		3	Uchicago
DePaul University		2
University of Illinois at Chicago	2	2	UIC
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	2	4	UIUC
Illinois Wesleyan University		3
Illinois Institute of Technology		2	IIT
Illinois State University	2	2
Knox College		3
Lake Forest College	2	4
Loyola University Chicago	2	2
Northwestern University	2	2
Wheaton College (IL)	2	3
Ball State University		2
Butler University	2
DePauw University	2
Earlham College	2	2
Hanover College	2	4
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis			IUPUI
Indiana University Bloomington	2		IU; IUB
University of Notre Dame	2	4	UND
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Saint Mary's College	2	4
Valparaiso University	2	2
Wabash College		2
Cornell College	2	2
Drake University		2
Grinnell College		3
Iowa State University	2	3	ISU
University of Iowa	2	4
University of Northern Iowa		4
University of Kansas			KU
Kansas State University			KSU; K-STATE
Wichita State University		3
Berea College		2
Centre College	2	4
Eastern Kentucky University	2
Georgetown College	2	2
University of Kentucky	2		UKY
University of Louisville	2	3
Murray State University	2
Transylvania University	2	2
Louisiana State University	2		LSU
University of Louisiana at Lafayette	2
Tulane University		3
Bates College	2	4
Bowdoin College		4
Colby College		3
University of Maine		2
Goucher College	2	4
Johns Hopkins University		4	JHU
Loyola University Maryland	3	4
University of Maryland, Baltimore County	2		UMC
University of Maryland, College Park	2	2	UMD
Salisbury University	2	3
St. Mary's College of Maryland		4
St. John's College (MD)	2	4
Towson University	2
United States Naval Academy		2	USNA
Washington College	2	4
McDaniel College	3	4
Amherst College		3
Assumption College	2
Babson College		4
Bentley University	3	3
Boston College		4	BC
Boston University	2	4	BU
Brandeis University		4
Clark University		2
Emerson College	3	3
Endicott College		2
Fitchburg State University	2
Hampshire College	3	4
Harvard University		4
College of the Holy Cross		4
University of Massachusetts Lowell	2	2	UMass Lowell
University of Massachusetts Amherst	2		UMass Amherst
University of Massachusetts Boston	2		UMass Boston
Massachusetts Institute of Technology		2	MIT
Massachusetts Maritime Academy	2	2	MMA
Merrimack College	2
Mount Holyoke College	3	4	MHC
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts	2
Northeastern University	2	4
Salem State University	2
Simmons University	3
Smith College		3
Stonehill College	3	4
Suffolk University	2	4
Tufts University	3	4
Wellesley College		4
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Wheaton College (MA)		4
Williams College		4
Worcester Polytechnic Institute		2	WPI
Albion College		2
Central Michigan University	2	2	CMU
Kettering University
Hillsdale College		3
Hope College		4
Kalamazoo College	3	4
University of Michigan	2	4	UMich
Michigan State University	2	2	MSU
Michigan Technological University		2
University of Michigan-Dearborn	2	2
Northern Michigan University		2
Oakland University		2
Wayne State University		2
Western Michigan University		2	WMU
Carleton College		3
Gustavus Adolphus College	2	3
Macalester College		3
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	2	2	UMN
University of Minnesota-Duluth		2
University of Minnesota-Morris	2		UMM
College of Saint Benedict		2
Saint Johns University		2	SJU
St Olaf College		4
University of St Thomas		4
Millsaps College	1	2
University of Mississippi	2	2	Ole Miss
Mississippi State University			MSU
University of Missouri-Columbia	2		Mizzou
Missouri University of Science and Technology	2
Truman State University	2	2
Saint Louis University	3	3
Washington University in St. Louis	2	4	WashU
Montana State University
The University of Montana		2
Creighton University	2	3
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	2		UNL
University of Nevada-Las Vegas			UNLV
University of Nevada-Reno			UNR
Dartmouth College		4
University of New Hampshire	2	3	UNH
Saint Anselm College	2	4
Drew University	2	2
Rowan University	2
Monmouth University		2
Montclair State University	2	4
New Jersey Institute of Technology		2	NJIT
Princeton University		4
Ramapo College of New Jersey	2	2
Rutgers University-Camden	2
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	2	2	RU
Rutgers University-Newark	2
Seton Hall University	2
Stevens Institute of Technology	2	4	Stevens Tech
Stockton University
The College of New Jersey	2	2
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology		2	NMIT
University of New Mexico	2		UNM
New Mexico State University-Main Campus
Adelphi University		2
Alfred University
Bard College	4	4
Barnard College		3
Canisius College	2	4
Clarkson University
Colgate University	3	4
Columbia University	3	4
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art		4
Cornell University
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College	2	2
CUNY Brooklyn College		3
CUNY City College	3	3
CUNY Hunter College		2
CUNY Lehman College	2	2
Fordham University	2	4
Hamilton College	3	3
Hobart William Smith Colleges	2	3	HWS
Hofstra University	2	3
Ithaca College	2	3
Manhattan College	2	3
Marist College	2	3
New York University	3	4	NYU
Niagara University	2	2
New York Institute of Technology
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute			RPI
Rochester Institute of Technology		3	RIT
University of Rochester			URI
St Bonaventure University		2
St Lawrence University		4
Sarah Lawrence College	2	4
Siena College	2	3
Skidmore College		4
St John's University-New York		2
SUNY at Albany	1	3
Binghamton University	3
University at Buffalo		3
Stony Brook University		3
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry		3
SUNY College at Brockport	1
SUNY Cortland	3	4
SUNY at Fredonia	3	3
SUNY College at Geneseo		4
State University of New York at New Paltz	2	4
SUNY Oneonta	3	4
SUNY College at Oswego	2	4
SUNY College at Potsdam		3
SUNY at Purchase College	3
SUNY College at Plattsburgh		3
Syracuse University		3	SU
Union College	2	3
United States Merchant Marine Academy		2
United States Military Academy		2	USMA
Vassar College		4
Wagner College	2
Yeshiva University		2
Appalachian State University			App State
Davidson College	2	4
Duke University		4
East Carolina University	2	2	ECU
Elon University	2	3
High Point University	2	3
University of North Carolina at Asheville	2		UNC Asheville; UNCA
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	2		UNC Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	2	3	UNCC: UNC Charlotte
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	2	2	UNCG; UNC Greensboro
North Carolina State University	2	2	NCSU; NC STATE
University of North Carolina Wilmington	2		UNCW; UNC Wilmington
Wake Forest University	2	4	WFU
Warren Wilson College		2
Western Carolina University	2	2	WCU
University of North Dakota			UND
North Dakota State University-Main Campus
University of Akron Main Campus
Bowling Green State University	2
Case Western Reserve University	2	3
University of Cincinnati			UC
University of Dayton		2
Denison University		4
John Carroll University	2	3
Kent State University at Kent		2
Kenyon College	3	4
Miami University		2	MU
Oberlin College	3
Ohio State University	2	3	OSU
Ohio University	2		OU
Ohio Wesleyan University	2	3	OWU
University of Toledo		2
The College of Wooster	2	2	TCNJ
Xavier University		2
Oklahoma State University			OSU
University of Oklahoma		2	OU
University of Tulsa		2
Lewis & Clark College		2
Linfield College-McMinnville Campus		2
Oregon Institute of Technology	2
Oregon State University	2		OSU
University of Oregon	2		UO
Portland State University	2
University of Portland	2	3
Reed College
Willamette University		4
Allegheny College	2
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania		2
Bryn Mawr College		4
Bucknell University	2	4
Carnegie Mellon University	2	2	CMU
Dickinson College	2	3
Drexel University		1
Duquesne University	2
Elizabethtown College	2	2
Franklin and Marshall College	2	4	F&M
Gettysburg College	3	4
Grove City College		3
Haverford College	3	3
Juniata College	2	2
La Salle University	2
Lafayette College	2	2
Lehigh University	2	2
Lycoming College	2	3
Mercyhurst University	2	2
Messiah College	2	2
Millersville University of Pennsylvania		2
Moravian College	2	2
Muhlenberg College	2	4
Pennsylvania State University - University Park	2	3	PSU; PENN STATE
University of Pennsylvania		4	UPenn
University of Pittsburgh	2	3
Saint Joseph's University	2		SJU
University of Scranton	2	2
Susquehanna University		2	SU
Swarthmore College		3
Temple University	2	2
Ursinus College	2	3
Villanova University	3	4
Washington & Jefferson College	2	3
West Chester University of Pennsylvania		2
Widener University	2	2
Brown University	3	4
Bryant University	2	2
Providence College	3	4
University of Rhode Island	1		URI
Rhode Island School of Design			RISD
Roger Williams University		2
Salve Regina University	2
College of Charleston	3		CofC
Citadel Military College of South Carolina	2
Clemson University	2	3
Furman University	2	3
Presbyterian College	2	3
University of South Carolina	2		USC
Coastal Carolina University	2
Winthrop University	2	2
Wofford College	3	3
South Dakota State University
University of South Dakota			USD
Belmont University	2	2
University of Memphis	2
Rhodes College	2
The University of the South	2	4	Sewanee
The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga	2		UTC
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville		2	UTK
Tennessee Technological University	2
Vanderbilt University	2	2	Vandy
Austin College	2	3
Baylor University	2
University of Dallas	2	3
University of Houston		2	UH
University of North Texas	2		UNT
Rice University	2
Sam Houston State University	2
Southern Methodist University	2	3	SMU
Southwestern University	2	3
Texas State University	2	2	TCU
Texas A & M University-College Station	2	2
The University of Texas at Arlington	2	2	UT Arlington
The University of Texas at Austin	2		UT Austin
The University of Texas at Dallas	2	3	UT Dallas
Texas Christian University	2	4
Trinity University	2	2
Brigham Young University-Provo		2	BYU
University of Utah		2
Bennington College		3
Middlebury College		4
Norwich University		2
Saint Michael's College	2	4
University of Vermont	2		UVM
College of William and Mary		4
Christopher Newport University	3	3
George Mason University	2	3	GMU
James Madison University	3	3	JMU
University of Mary Washington	3	4
Old Dominion University	3	3
Randolph-Macon College	2	3
University of Richmond	2	4
Roanoke College	2	2
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University		3	Virginia Tech
Virginia Commonwealth University	2	3	VCU
University of Virginia-Main Campus	2	4	UVA
Virginia Military Institute	3	4	VMI
Washington and Lee University	3	4	WLU
Gonzaga University	2	3
University of Puget Sound		3
Seattle University	2	2
Washington State University	2	2	WSU
University of Washington	2	3	UW
Western Washington University	2
Whitman College		2
Whitworth University	2	2
Marshall University		2
West Virginia University	2		WVU
Beloit College		2
Lawrence University		2
Marquette University		2
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Ripon College		2
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse		3
University of Wisconsin-Madison	3	4	UW; UW Madison
University of Wyoming
Stanford University		3
Purdue University	2	2
St. John's College (NM)	2	4
New College of Florida	2	4
University of Washington-Bothell Campus			UW Bothell
Soka University of America		2
Florida Gulf Coast University	2		FGCU
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering		2
University of California, Merced	2	3	UC Merced
University of North Georgia	2	2	UNG

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