UVA Admission and "other electives"
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Anonymous
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My 10th grade son is interested in attending UVA to major in computer science. He is on track to take 9 AP courses with Honors for his social studies classes (and Multivariable Calc). He will not pursue language other than his required 3 years. He currently makes all As. Any thoughts on whether he needs to take "hard" electives for his other classes, or if he can get away with an "easy" one or two. For instance, he is interested in taking Sports Psychology. Or maybe Oceanography. Or maybe Forensics, Debate, Film Studies, Sports Marketing, etc.
Just some sort of easy, interesting, random class (one in 11th and one in 12th) to balance out his other challenging courses. What say you, DCUM? |
Anonymous
He should take 4 years of a foreign language. |
Anonymous
| He's 16. I hope he can take what he enjoys. |
Anonymous
I'd say your child might be interested in other Universities next year. Why are you putting all the eggs in one basket? |
Anonymous
| Echoing the suggestion to take 4 years of foreign language in HS - UVA definitely wants to see that as we were told by someone in admissions in connection with athletics recruiting. |
Anonymous
+1 UVA wants to see all the core classes all 4 years. But fine to take 1-2 more fun/interesting electives. |
Anonymous
He probably should take the 4th year language if possible. My son is in this position now, and he literally can't fit it into his schedule and it's his worst class anyway. So we opted not. But only because his schedule was already rigorous. Have you talked to the school counselor? I was pretty annoyed to find out how many schools wanted 4 years of language when the VA advanced diploma only requires three. Other than that, I'd say take the classes that seem interesting to him and help him understand what he likes. But I'm not a counselor. |
Anonymous
+1. UVA is blunt about it and so are most similarly competitive schools |
Anonymous
He will have his choice of Virginia public universities. So UVA, VA Tech, JMU, GMU, W&M, etc. He seems pretty adamant about not taking another year of a foreign language. Ugh. I will show him these responses. |
Anonymous
He should take electives that make sense given what he thinks he wants to pursue in life (or the field that he is trying to explore, to decide on a major if he is unsure). That is what electives are for. Please, please let your child's true identity emerge as he heads towards adulthood. DO NOT try to program him into some stepford kid, in order to gain access to a school a few rungs up the USNWR ladder. |
Anonymous
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We met with someone from UVA and my understanding was the following:
1. Electives don’t matter they only look (for the most part) at core subjects. They said this explicitly. 2. Core subjects matter a lot and the student needs 4 years in each of the 5 core subjects 3. Not only do they need to take the 5 core subjects every year, they need to take the highest level when possible. For example, if they can take AP Spanish instead of Spanish 5 they need to do that. If they can take AP bio instead of Honors Bio they need to do that. If AP Bio is available and they take AP environmental instead that could be held against them. The language that was used was “missed opportunity.” This is regardless of major. For example, my DS is interested in humanities. They still said that he needs the higher level science and math because he would be compared to students who had taken those classes. It also sounded like one AP lab science was sufficient. They asked lots of questions like, could you go straight into AP Calc or is regular Calc a prerequisite? |
Anonymous
He'll have plenty of options without the 4th year, it just won't likely be UVA. Which may mean UVA's not the best fit for him anyway. My son did continue foreign language but opted not to do the IB diploma program at his HS. That was the right choice for him and knew when making it that it meant he wouldn't be competitive for UVA, which was fine. He's happy at Virginia Tech in a STEM major. |
Anonymous
I mean, this is a little dramatic but essentially correct. My kid, for example, knew they wanted to major in Spanish. So obviously they took Spanish all the through, taking both AP Language and AP Literature. But they didn't take AP Calculus; they went from Honors Trig to AP Stats. Got in. |
Anonymous
| OP, I know a kid (currently a Freshman at UVA) that hated foreign language and only took 3 years. As long as your schedule is difficult, it’s ok to follow your interests. It is true however that UVA says they like to see 4 or more years of lang, but it’s not impossible to get in. If UVA is definitely #1 then ED. Good luck. |
Anonymous
If they are in the college of arts and sciences at UVA they have to take a language to the 2000 level while in the college or a 4 or better on an AP language exam or an acceptable score on their placement exam. So net net, unless he’s in the engineering school - which maybe he will be - he will need to continue a language anyway. My DS took AP Spanish his senior year but only got a 3 on the exam so he is still taking a language at UVA (though I bet he would have placed out via the placement exam, he wanted to switch languages so he’s starting over with a new one). My DD Stopped Spanish in 10th because she hated it and doubled up on sciences for 11th. She got into UVA as well but ended up having to take advanced intermediate Spanish this fall to meet the colleges requirement. She placed into this class which is quite hard given she has not taken Spanish in two years. I think for the engineering school they are not required to take a language but if you do plan to apply to CAS, then might as well keep taking the language on hopes of placing out of the requirement. |