All students (freshmen and transfers) who enter the B.A., B.S., or B.F.A. degree programs will be required to pass a second-semester course in first-year foreign language (i.e., French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Latin, or Greek A101) or demonstrate equivalent knowledge by placing into a higher level on a departmental examination. Students who must take A100 of the language in preparation for the required A101 will use the A100 credit as general elective hours. Students enrolling in business administration (with the exception of international business) or music have no foreign language requirement but may elect to take foreign language if they so desire. Loyola offers placement tests in the following languages: Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Latin, and Greek. No credit is given as a result of these tests; their purpose is placement into the appropriate level.
All incoming first-year students are required to take the foreign language placement test to determine if they can “place out” of the entire requirement or to determine the level at which they should begin if they wish to continue with the language beyond the requirement. Students who “place out” of the requirement will need to take three additional hours of general electives to fulfill graduation requirements.
Students who are transferring from an accredited institution, with six semester hours with a minimum grade of C for the equivalent of Loyola’s A101 language course, will have met the foreign language requirement and NEED NOT take the placement test. Transfer students with no foreign language transfer credit may take the exam to determine if they have sufficient knowledge to “place out” of the requirement or to determine the level at which they should begin if they wish to continue the language beyond the requirement. This later group will need to take additional general elective hours as explained above.
Students who have graduated from a high school outside of the United States in which the language of instruction is not English are considered “native speakers” of another language and are thus exempt from the foreign language requirement. Also exempt from the foreign language requirement are students who place into ENGL A105. No credit will be awarded for students exempt from the requirement; they will need to complete three additional hours of general electives to fulfill graduation requirements. Students who seek exemption from the requirement who do not meet the guidelines above need to take the placement exam to determine eligibility for exemption. Falling into this category are students who attended high school in the United States but who speak a foreign language at home. Please note that in this category we can offer exemptions only in languages Loyola teaches. Students exempt from the requirement will need to complete three additional hours of general electives to fulfill graduation requirements.