Dropping language 12th grade
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Anonymous
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Wil this hurt DS for college acceptances? I know UVA highly recommends language all 4 years to be competitive. DS is a full IB student and decided to take IB Anthropology instead of IB Spanish 7, he’s not interested in pursuing further.
also Looking at DS2, would it be better to repeat a language when transitioning from MS to HS - take French 3 again 9th grade instead of accelerating to French 4? DS2 doesn’t have the basics down. Will that be seen as a negative later for colleges? Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| I would not take French 3 twice. I would either take French 4 and get a tutor to bring them up to speed or switch to another language. Spanish might be easy to pick up after the French. Or else try something completely different like Latin or ASL. |
Anonymous
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My understanding is kids need 4 years of language in high school at many schools. If a kid repeats 3 in HS (having taken 3 previously in middle school) will that show on his transcript?
Hard for me to say, but if a kid can get to level 4 and not have the basics down, the naming of your kid’s classes seem different (level 4 for my kid is typically taken junior year and they are reading entire books published in the language). I think the spirit of the 4-year recommendation is that colleges want kids to be proficient in a second language, which seems to be the norm for the rest of the world. |
Anonymous
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My kid is doing similar, and colleges on the list require 2 or more years. Kid is in a special high school science program plus has to take a required religion class so I assume colleges will see there isn’t much room on the schedule.
If you could spin the story that IB Anthro aligns with future career choices, might that work? |
Anonymous
| My kids took two years and had no problems getting into schools of DCUM acceptable caliber. Neither went in for a specific major that would require it and got into schools that say 4 years as a requirement. They aren't proficient and did just basic. Your kid is well ahead of the game so I wouldn't worry about that. |
Anonymous
| Following. My kid is also in a science magnet HS and is not enjoying language (but doing fine). It is not one offered in MS, so will have taken 1-3 Fresh-Jr year. Hoping to be able to take AP Env Sci rather than lang Sr year but interested in applying to some top tier LACs and Unis. |
Anonymous
Spanish is a two year course. You have to have a language for two years to get an IB diploma. Unless he has another language he is using for IB? Is Spanish a second language for him? But I understand why your DS wants anthropology. It’s a great course. As for DS2, as long as he has the required amount to get into IB (assuming that is the plan) I see no issue with it. You can drop The HS classes taken in MS from transcript anyway. |
Anonymous
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Mine is a rising sophomore and will be in Spanish 4. He’s going to be a STEM major and is in a magnet school- hates language and will stop after this year. The hard part of learning a second language in the US, is it is much harder to practice. You can’t just take a ValuJet for a long summer weekend to Spain for like 99 RT like you can in Europe.
My older one hated language too and dropped after Spanish 4. Was not disadvantaged for colleges and was accepted to numerous honors programs. |
Anonymous
| It won't hurt if they took language in MS. If they started in HS, they should complete through {foreign language} level 4. |
Anonymous
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Who can tell? It's impossible to know. If it is about comparison to other kids with multiple years of multiple languages plus all the other stuff your kid has, they won't compare well. But how many of those will there be and you can't actually anticipate what every other applicant brings to the table.
Really, some of these questions. |
Anonymous
| Can parents whose kids are in college now and didn't take language senior year post about admissions? Would you mind sharing where kids got in? |
Anonymous
It is not hard to find places where people speak spanish in the US. Even in the DMV |
Anonymous
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My child is not taking a language senior year after taking 3 years of the same language. Foreign languages aren’t his thing. He is taking 2 different sciences classes, though.
I don’t think that not having a 4th year of language will hurt him. He’s not applying to top tier schools anyway and he’s more interested in STEM fields. |
Anonymous
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Look at the websites and CDS for the particular schools you are interested in. The schools are not necessarily upfront about whether they count middle school language. Some of them want language every year in high school.
All that said, my DS decided that he didn’t want to take a language in 12th even if if affected admissions. He wound up applying ED to a SLAC so I don’t know if if would affect admissions elsewhere. |
Anonymous
Mine just graduated from W&M, so his experience is a few years old. He did the full IB diploma at a FCPS high school. He took French in 7th and 8th grade, which equaled 1 year of French in high school. Then he took French 2, French 3 and IB French 1. He DID NOT take take French his senior year and managed to get the IB diploma. He did have 4 years of language on his transcript (1 year from middle school.) The other added bonus - he did not have to take a language at W&M. The four years counted for their language requirement. |