Hey, community!
I am a freshman in high school currently taking ASL 100. I recently noticed there are some colleges that do not accept this for their admissions. Is it recommended to switch to another world language such as Spanish? Even if a college does accept ASL, is it a disadvantage? I want to specialize in computer science, so does this matter much?
I was also wondering if these specific colleges accept American Sign Language?
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Carnegie Mellon University
4. California Institute of Technology
5. Princeton
I am also fluent in another language at home and have taken courses to learn it (Telugu). If I take the world language test for that language will it count toward fulfilling the admission requirements?
Thanks in advance!
All of the schools you have listed have no language requirement for high school applicants, but they do recommend that students study one language for 3-4 years continuously in high school. Based on these recommended guidelines, I would say that you should continue doing ASL only if your school offers at least 3 levels of it. If not, it would be better to switch to a language like Spanish.
The reason why universities value continuous studies in one language is because they want to see that you have intellectual curiosity for all areas of knowledge. It also signifies that you are prepared to take on the language requirements that many majors have. Because they care more about you demonstrating the ability to learn a language than fluency, it would be better to learn a new language instead of testing for Telugu fluency. Hope this helps!
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