How many years of foreign language needed in high school for college admissions?

[Anonymous]

DS is a high school sophomore considering courses for junior year. He is taking Spanish IV now but doesn't like it very much. He wants to take AP Chem next year instead of continuing on with Spanish. (AP Chem is two periods, so there isn't room for both; we've been through the rest of the schedule and the only one that makes sense to drop is Spanish.)

He will be applying to reasonably selective colleges. I have heard that some colleges want students to have a certain number of years of foreign lang in high school, or it may hurt them in admissions. But how do I find this info? I don't see it on college websites.

[Anonymous]

4

[Anonymous]

Two for sure, which he has.

Four to be safe.

Sometimes you just need to make your choice and see what happens. He’ll certainly get in somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Does Latin count?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two for sure, which he has.

Four to be safe.

Sometimes you just need to make your choice and see what happens. He’ll certainly get in somewhere.

He has 4 years, if you count high school courses taken in middle school since he took Spanish I in 7th . Does that count?

[Anonymous]

Colleges have varying requirements but applying to selective schools assume the requirement is the max

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a high school sophomore considering courses for junior year. He is taking Spanish IV now but doesn't like it very much. He wants to take AP Chem next year instead of continuing on with Spanish. (AP Chem is two periods, so there isn't room for both; we've been through the rest of the schedule and the only one that makes sense to drop is Spanish.)

He will be applying to reasonably selective colleges. I have heard that some colleges want students to have a certain number of years of foreign lang in high school, or it may hurt them in admissions. But how do I find this info? I don't see it on college websites.

Three if STEM / Business major

Four if Humanities major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two for sure, which he has.

Four to be safe.

Sometimes you just need to make your choice and see what happens. He’ll certainly get in somewhere.

He has 4 years, if you count high school courses taken in middle school since he took Spanish I in 7th . Does that count?

The answer is, it depends on the college. Princeton says they want to see you take four years of one language in your four years of high school. UVA seems to have a similar requirement. But what he’s already done is enough for most colleges.

[Anonymous]

Yes it matters if it's in HS or MS - selective colleges want to see 4 years in HS (same language, not Spanish 3 and 4 and then French 1 and 2). You have to show rigor compared to classmates, and the way to do that is foreign language, math, and science. And lots of AP or IB courses

[Anonymous]

Search the board. This topic has been covered muchas veces already.

[Anonymous]

It depends. Mine only took 3 but the last was AP. Does not seem to have had an impact.

[Anonymous]

Based on the results at our school this year and last - definitely 4 years IN high school
(Rather than up to level 4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it matters if it's in HS or MS - selective colleges want to see 4 years in HS (same language, not Spanish 3 and 4 and then French 1 and 2). You have to show rigor compared to classmates, and the way to do that is foreign language, math, and science. And lots of AP or IB courses

OP here - I understand the need to show rigor, but it's a tradeoff. He can either take Spanish V or he can take AP Chem. Can't fit both in.

[Anonymous]

We see these threads a lot. Yet people feed into the “science is the most rigorous” canard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it matters if it's in HS or MS - selective colleges want to see 4 years in HS (same language, not Spanish 3 and 4 and then French 1 and 2). You have to show rigor compared to classmates, and the way to do that is foreign language, math, and science. And lots of AP or IB courses

OP here - I understand the need to show rigor, but it's a tradeoff. He can either take Spanish V or he can take AP Chem. Can't fit both in.

What is his planned major? That aside, AP looks better than non-AP if given a choice.