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 2021-22 Common Data Set (CDS) forms.

Table updated September 2022

Institution	Foreign Language units (Required)	Foreign Language units (Recommended)
Adelphi University		2
Agnes Scott College	2	2
Alfred University
Allegheny College	2
American University	2	3
Amherst College		3
Appalachian State University	2
Arizona State University	2
Auburn University		1
Austin College	2	3
Babson College		4
Bard College	4	4
Barnard College		3
Bates College	2	4
Baylor University	2
Belmont University	2	2
Beloit College		2
Bennington College		3
Bentley University	3	3
Berea College		2
Binghamton University	3
Boston College		4
Boston University	2	4
Bowdoin College		4
Bradley University		2
Brandeis University		4
Brigham Young University-Provo		2
Brown University	3	4
Bryant University	2	2
Bryn Mawr College		4
Bucknell University	2	4
Butler University	2
Cal Poly, Pomona	2
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo	2	4
California Institute of Technology		3
California State University, Fresno	2
California State University, Fullerton	2	2
California State University, Long Beach	2	2
Carleton College		3
Carnegie Mellon University	2	2
Case Western Reserve University	2	3
Centre College	2	4
Chapman University	2	4
Claremont McKenna College	3	3
Clark University		2
Clarkson University
Clemson University	2	3
Coastal Carolina University	2
Colby College		3
Colgate University	3	4
College of Charleston	3
College of the Holy Cross		4
College of William and Mary		4
Colorado College
Colorado School of Mines	1	2
Colorado State University	1	2
Columbia University	3	4
Connecticut College
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art		4
Cornell University
Creighton University	2	3
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
Dartmouth College		4
Davidson College	2	4
Denison University		4
DePaul University		2
DePauw University	2
Dickinson College	2	3
Drew University	2	2
Drexel University		1
Duke University		4
Duquesne University	2
Earlham College	2	2
East Carolina University	2	2
Eckerd College		2
Elon University	2	3
Emerson College	3	3
Emory University		4
Fairfield University	2	4
Florida Atlantic University	2
Florida Gulf Coast University	2
Florida Institute of Technology		2
Florida International University	2
Florida Southern College		2
Florida State University	2	4
Fordham University	2	4
Franklin and Marshall College	2	4
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering		2
Furman University	2	3
George Mason University	2	3
George Washington University	2	4
Georgetown University	2	4
Georgia College	2
Georgia Institute of Technology	2
Georgia State University	2	2
Gettysburg College	3	4
Gonzaga University	2	3
Goucher College	2	4
Grinnell College		3
Gustavus Adolphus College	2	3
Hamilton College	3	3
Hampshire College	3	4
Hanover College	2	4
Harvard University		4
Harvey Mudd College		2
Haverford College	3	3
Hendrix College	2	2
High Point University	2	3
Hobart William Smith Colleges	2	3
Hofstra University	2	3
Howard University	2	2
Illinois Institute of Technology		2
Illinois Wesleyan University		3
Indiana University Bloomington	2
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
Iowa State University	1	3
Ithaca College	2	3
James Madison University	3	3
Johns Hopkins University		4
Juniata College	2	2
Kalamazoo College	3	4
Kansas State University
Kenyon College	3	4
Lafayette College	2	2
Lake Forest College	2	4
Lawrence University		2
Lehigh University	2	2
Lewis & Clark College		2
Linfield College-McMinnville Campus		4
Louisiana State University	2
Loyola Marymount University		3
Loyola University Chicago	2	2
Loyola University Maryland	3	4
Macalester College		3
Manhattan College	2	3
Marist College	2	3
Marquette University		2
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts	2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology		2
Miami University		2
Michigan State University	2	2
Michigan Technological University		2
Middlebury College		4
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Mississippi State University
Morehouse College		2
Mount Holyoke College	3	4
Muhlenberg College	2	4
New College of Florida	2	4
New Jersey Institute of Technology		2
New York Institute of Technology
New York University	3	4
North Carolina State University	2	2
Northeastern University	2	4
Northern Arizona University	2
Northwestern University	2	2
Oberlin College	3
Occidental College		3
Ohio State University	2	3
Ohio University	2
Ohio Wesleyan University	2	3
Oklahoma State University
Oregon State University	2
Pennsylvania State University - University Park	2	3
Pepperdine University
Pitzer College	3	3
Pomona College	3	4
Princeton University		4
Providence College	3	4
Purdue University	2	2
Quinnipiac University	2	2
Ramapo College of New Jersey	2	2
Reed College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rhodes College	2
Rice University	2
Rochester Institute of Technology		3
Rollins College	2	3
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	2	2
Saint Johns University		2
Saint Mary's College of California	2	3
San Diego State University	3
San Francisco State University	2	2
San Jose State University	2
Santa Clara University	2	3
Sarah Lawrence College	2	4
Scripps College	3
Seattle University	2	2
Seton Hall University	2
Skidmore College		4
Smith College		3
Southern Methodist University	2	3
Spelman College	2	2
St John's University-New York		2
St Lawrence University		4
St Olaf College		4
St. John's College (MD)	2	4
St. John's College (NM)	2	4
St. Mary's College of Maryland		4
Stanford University		3
State University of New York at New Paltz	2	4
Stetson University	2
Stevens Institute of Technology	2	4
Stonehill College	3	4
Stony Brook University		3
SUNY at Albany	1	3
SUNY at Fredonia	3	3
SUNY at Purchase College	3
SUNY College at Brockport	1
SUNY College at Geneseo		4
SUNY College at Oswego	2	4
SUNY College at Plattsburgh		3
SUNY College at Potsdam		3
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry		3
SUNY Cortland	3	4
SUNY Oneonta	3	4
Susquehanna University		2
Swarthmore College		3
Syracuse University		3
Temple University	2	2
Texas A & M University-College Station	2	2
Texas Christian University	2	4
Texas Tech University	2	2
The College of New Jersey	2	2
The College of Wooster	2	2
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville		2
The University of Texas at Austin	2
The University of Texas at Dallas	2	3
The University of the South	2	4
Trinity College	3
Trinity University	2	2
Tufts University	3	4
Tulane University		3
Union College	2	3
United States Air Force Academy		2
United States Coast Guard Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy		2
United States Military Academy		2
United States Naval Academy		2
University at Buffalo		3
University of Alabama	1	2
University of Alabama at Birmingham	3
University of Arizona	2	2
University of Arkansas		2
University of California, Berkeley	2	3
University of California, Davis	2	3
University of California, Irvine	2	3
University of California, Los Angeles	2	3
University of California, Merced	2	3
University of California, Riverside	2	3
University of California, San Diego	2	3
University of California, Santa Barbara	2	3
University of California, Santa Cruz	2	3
University of Central Florida	2
University of Chicago		3
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado Boulder	3
University of Connecticut	2	3
University of Delaware	2	4
University of Denver		2
University of Florida	2
University of Georgia	2	3
University of Houston		2
University of Illinois at Chicago	2	2
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	2	4
University of Iowa	2	4
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky	2
University of Louisville	2	3
University of Maine		2
University of Mary Washington	3	4
University of Maryland, Baltimore County	2
University of Maryland, College Park	2	2
University of Massachusetts Amherst	2
University of Massachusetts Boston	2
University of Miami		4
University of Michigan	2	4
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	2	2
University of Mississippi	2	2
University of Missouri-Columbia	2
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	2
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
University of Nevada-Reno
University of New Hampshire	2	3
University of New Mexico	2
University of North Carolina at Asheville	2
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	2
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	2	3
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	2	2
University of North Carolina Wilmington	2
University of Notre Dame	2	4
University of Oklahoma		2
University of Oregon	2
University of Pennsylvania		4
University of Pittsburgh	2	3
University of Portland	2	3
University of Puget Sound		3
University of Redlands	2	3
University of Rhode Island	1
University of Richmond	2	4
University of Rochester
University of San Diego	3	4
University of San Francisco	2
University of South Carolina	2
University of South Florida	2	2
University of Southern California	2	3
University of Tulsa		2
University of Utah		2
University of Vermont	2
University of Virginia-Main Campus	2	4
University of Washington	2	3
University of Wisconsin-Madison	3	4
Ursinus College	2	3
Vanderbilt University	2	2
Vassar College		4
Villanova University	3	4
Virginia Commonwealth University	2	3
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University		3
Wake Forest University	2	4
Washington and Lee University	3	4
Washington College	2	4
Washington State University	2	2
Washington University in St. Louis	2	4
Wellesley College		4
Wesleyan University		4
West Virginia University	2
Wheaton College (IL)	2	3
Wheaton College (MA)		4
Whitman College		2
Willamette University		4
Williams College		4
Worcester Polytechnic Institute		2
Yale University
Yeshiva University		2

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