VT Foreign Language Requirement
By the time students graduate from the university, they must meet a language study requirement.
For most majors, the minimum requirement may be met in middle or high school by completing 2 units of a single foreign or classical language or American Sign Language. (3 units for those students who will graduate from certain majors within Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences).
The Office of the University Registrar runs a foreign language program in mid-October for students admitted in the fall semester, and in mid-February for students admitted in the spring semester. The program searches students’ high school courses to award credit for the foreign language requirement. This program has been expanded to also include students whose native language is not English. Therefore, these students should no longer be referred to the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures. Transfer students may need to be reminded to submit their high school transcripts if they will meet the foreign language requirement through course work completed in high school.
If students do not meet the foreign language requirement prior to attending VT, it may also be met after admission by one of the following:
- Earning 6 semester hours of college-level foreign or classical language credit or American Sign Language. Such credits are in addition to that number normally required for graduation in a student’s program of study.
- Receiving credit by examination for a foreign or classical language or American Sign Language. The credit by examination option is available only to students who have gained knowledge of a foreign language without the benefit of formal training. This privilege is intended to recognize informal non-academic learning experience and is not offered to a student who has had regular classroom instruction in that foreign language. Contact the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures for more information.