Admissions

Second Language Admission Requirement

All applicants who graduated from an Oregon high school in 1997 or later must demonstrate proficiency in a second language to be admitted to Portland State. Students who have been admitted to PSU but have not met the Second Language Admission Requirement will be notified by email in their @pdx.edu email account. Oregon residents who earn a GED are not held to the second language requirement.

Students must provide official transcripts or official test scores to the Admissions Office to indicate the Second Language Admission Requirement has been met.

There are many options for meeting the admission requirement, most are listed below. However, if you speak, read and write in a language other than English but cannot find an option below for demonstrating proficiency in that language, contact the Department of World Languages and Literatures to see if other options might be available.

Native speakers (defined as students whose formal secondary education was completed in any language other than English) may demonstrate proficiency by filling out the Second Language Requirement Verification Request form—include the appropriate documents (diploma/transcript from home country with notarized translation)—and send to world@pdx.edu. Native speakers cannot receive Credit for Prior Learning or Credit by Exam in their native language.

Options for Meeting the Second Language Admissions Requirement

High School Credit

If you earned credit in a second language in high school, have your school send your official high school transcripts to Portland State. Transfer students who attended high school in Oregon in 1997 or later can submit high school transcripts to meet the admission requirement.

  • Two years of the same high school-level second language with a grade of C- or better
  • Third year of a high school-level second language with a grade of C- or better

College Credit

  • Two quarters/semesters of the same college-level second language with a grade of D- or better

Proficiency-Based Assessment

  • Score of 2 or higher on an Advanced Placement (AP) Foreign Language Test
  • Score of 4 or higher on an International Baccalaureate (IB) Standard Level Foreign Language Exam
  • Score of 40 or higher on a CLEP Foreign Language Exam (Only offered in Spanish, French and German)
  • Score of 500 or higher on an SAT Foreign Language Subject Test
  • Education satisfactorily completed through 7th grade in a school or country where English was not the language of instruction
  • Satisfactory performance (P) on a Brigham Young Foreign Language Assessment (BYU FLATS)
  • Score of novice-high or higher on the Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency (STAMP)
  • Score of novice-high or higher on the ACTFL scale in American Sign Language (ASL)
  • Score of novice-high or higher on a ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview
  • Score of 226 or higher on a Proctored WebCAPE (only offered in Spanish for the Second Language Admission requirement)

PSU Credit

  • Pass 102 or higher in a language offered by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at PSU
  • Completion of the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Second Language Requirement at PSU fulfills the Second Language Admission Requirement. Contact your pathway adviser if you have questions about graduation requirements for the B.A.

Other Ways to Demonstrate Proficiency

Students can also demonstrate proficiency and fulfill the Second Language Admission Requirement by passing a CLEP Exam, passing a departmental examination (Credit for Prior Learning/Credit by Examination), or by passing a Non-credit Departmental Exam. Details for these options can be found the WLL Second Language Requirement page.