Does a Seal of Biliteracy boost your admission?

Hello!

I am unsure of whether you receive the seal after "finishing" a language course in high school, as in Illinois, classes are 1, 2, 3/4, AP, or Heritage (meaning you speak the language at home, however, this class is mostly Spanish). The kids at my school are offered to take the test every year in high school if it makes sense for them (I have a friend who is a freshman and took the test because she's nearly biliterate in Polish). I would not encourage you to take the test for the same language every year, but it may benefit you. I would also say that if your school has Spanish, French, etc. honor societies, that combined with the seal could help your application. Lastly, it depends on what you want to go into. Most STEM majors at top colleges do not have a lot of foreign language requirements/recommendations, simply because you don't need to know German to do math. Humanities majors may have higher requirements, but even some schools like Princeton evaluate this on a case-by-case basis. One officer told me that STEM and humanities are evaluated similarly- that is, foreign languages are recommended more in humanities but unless you are directly going into a foreign language major/study (Hispanic studies, French, etc.) the requirements are not as necessary and you don't need to be as proficient. In the end, it depends on what you want out of French and what you want to do. If you want to go to a top college for a foreign language program, the seal is definitely going to help you out. It can't hurt you, I will say that. But the extent of its benefits depends on everything else.

Hope this helps! :)

Hello! I'm currently enrolled as an Honors French 4 student (in Michigan) and was offered the opportunity to do the Seal of Biliteracy. I am unsure if it boosts your college admissions chances, however, it's not just a California thing.