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4 years ago
Admissions Advice

Seal of Biliteracy

I just heard about the Seal of Biliteracy and I have taken 4 years of Spanish and I am fluent. I looked up the Seal of Biliteracy requirements for my state and I meet them assuming I passed my AICE language exam (I'm confident that I did). I was wondering if this would help my chance at admissions if I get it? I want to major in computer science or engineering so it's not super relevant to my major. I'm also not sure if it's prestigious, I just learned about it. So can someone explain how it looks to colleges if I get the Seal of Biliteracy and if it will help my chances?

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Spanish
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2 answers

1
4 years ago

I'm not personally familiar with the Seal of Biliteracy, but the requirements don't look particularly rigorous. It appears that you need to either get a 3 or higher on the AP exam, or get a 4 or higher on the IB exam (or the equivalent level of fluency on another exam). In that case, it would just be an extra title for having some degree of language fluency. Having foreign language fluency is certainly an awesome thing to have regardless of your major, but the Seal of Biliteracy will likely not look that impressive to colleges. Instead, it would be better to list a standardized test grade (like SAT Subject Test or AP, or even a test under the CEFR - Common European Framework for Languages). These standards are better-known by admissions officers. Hope this helps!

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1
4 years ago

It does look very attractive to employers and college admissions from what I've read, even if its not all that relevant to your degree. The will make you seem "well-rounded" and accomplished, and intelligent in more ways than one. Even if it doesn't match your degree track PUT IT ON THERE it will look really really good. Like an art major earning a Nobel peace prize. Who cares if its not related to art, its a Nobel peace prize and it's amazing. Show off your skills even if they seem irrelevant to your degree, thats what makes you stand out from the people who just went for things for their degree. Your skill may definitely come in handy at some point during your career, and that makes you special.

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