Selective Colleges and Foreign Language Requirements

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a freshman who is a great student with high test scores. She may well want to attend a selective university. But she hates her foreign language. At the end of the year she will have met the 2 year requirement. How important is it for her to continue with this language if she wants to have a chance at a selective university? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

It varies but I wouldn’t stop at 2 unless she really can’t do it. First, consider whether the colleges themselves will have a foreign language requirement. Will she avoid those or start a new language? Second, consider major. It won’t fly for an IR major but might for an engineer.
Some schools like UVA seem to really want all four years. But I’d say three still looks a lot better than the two minimum. Four is, of course, better. If less than four, she’ll want to show depth and breadth in the other core academic areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman who is a great student with high test scores. She may well want to attend a selective university. But she hates her foreign language. At the end of the year she will have met the 2 year requirement. How important is it for her to continue with this language if she wants to have a chance at a selective university? Thanks.

Depends upon the particular schools to which she would like to apply.

Everything is relative. If your daughter has met the minimum requirement, then which courses or activities replace foreign language study could be a plus.

[Anonymous]

I could be mistaken, but doesn't MCPS require at least two years of foreign language in high school? FWIW, my current college freshman was advised by his counselor to take at least 3 years of language in high school because most colleges want to see at least that much even though MCPS only requires 2 years.

OP, I feel your pain. My younger DC loathes foreign language, so I know I will be facing a similar situation too. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It varies but I wouldn’t stop at 2 unless she really can’t do it. First, consider whether the colleges themselves will have a foreign language requirement. Will she avoid those or start a new language? Second, consider major. It won’t fly for an IR major but might for an engineer.
Some schools like UVA seem to really want all four years. But I’d say three still looks a lot better than the two minimum. Four is, of course, better. If less than four, she’ll want to show depth and breadth in the other core academic areas.

When I wrote this, I was thinking language 1 in 9th grade rather than 8th. Now I’ve reread and realized it would be only 1 year in HS. I definitely would not do that. If she really cannot do the language, consider three years of ASL after this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could be mistaken, but doesn't MCPS require at least two years of foreign language in high school? FWIW, my current college freshman was advised by his counselor to take at least 3 years of language in high school because most colleges want to see at least that much even though MCPS only requires 2 years.

OP, I feel your pain. My younger DC loathes foreign language, so I know I will be facing a similar situation too. Good luck!

It’s not MCPS that requires 2 years IN high school. MCPS is okay if a kid takes 2 years in middle school. That is enough for graduation.

It is the colleges that like to see 2 years IN high school.

OP - you said your 9th grader will finish their two years at the end of this year. That means they did 1 year in middle school. That is fine for MCPS but not fine for colleges and definitely not fine for very selective colleges. At the bare minimum, she’ll have to do at least one more year while in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could be mistaken, but doesn't MCPS require at least two years of foreign language in high school? FWIW, my current college freshman was advised by his counselor to take at least 3 years of language in high school because most colleges want to see at least that much even though MCPS only requires 2 years.

OP, I feel your pain. My younger DC loathes foreign language, so I know I will be facing a similar situation too. Good luck!

It’s not MCPS that requires 2 years IN high school. MCPS is okay if a kid takes 2 years in middle school. That is enough for graduation.

It is the colleges that like to see 2 years IN high school.

OP - you said your 9th grader will finish their two years at the end of this year. That means they did 1 year in middle school. That is fine for MCPS but not fine for colleges and definitely not fine for very selective colleges. At the bare minimum, she’ll have to do at least one more year while in high school.

You may be right about selective colleges, but otherwise it depends on the college. For example, I don't think university of md cares about it, whereas university of delaware states pretty clearly that "Foreign language courses taken before the ninth grade do not count."

[Anonymous]

My kid “hated” three quarters of the classes she took in high school. Lots of kids do. That’s not an excuse not to take them and not to push yourself.

[Anonymous]

What would she replace it with? If she is headed to engineering and can replace FL with another math class, that might be all right.

[Anonymous]

Is your kid a STEM genius? If so and they've got every science and advanced math AP going, they will be fine. If not then no, they need to get those 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Should have started 9th grade with level 1 of the foreign language.

[Anonymous]

OP- there have been a ton of discussions of this in this forum so you might like to search for more insight.

The general consensus is that:
1) many universities really, really care about 4 years of foreign language in high school (some require; others say recommended; almost all will ding you at least a bit if you don't have it)
2) There is confusion about whether universities care about 4 years of language actually in high school (as in, through senior year). The plurality on this forum (which is admittedly just a guess because no one knows) believe that if you get through AP language you can quit before senior year; otherwise, you should progress through the sequence through senior year.

Of course, it really matters what kind of school you are targeting For tip top schools, there's not much room for weakness on an application so it matters more. For good state schools, etc. there's probably more leeway for kids to pick and choose where they demonstrate their excellence and if they replace language with something impressive (more ap science courses, for instance), then they're probably fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- there have been a ton of discussions of this in this forum so you might like to search for more insight.

The general consensus is that:
1) many universities really, really care about 4 years of foreign language in high school (some require; others say recommended; almost all will ding you at least a bit if you don't have it)
2) There is confusion about whether universities care about 4 years of language actually in high school (as in, through senior year). The plurality on this forum (which is admittedly just a guess because no one knows) believe that if you get through AP language you can quit before senior year; otherwise, you should progress through the sequence through senior year.

Of course, it really matters what kind of school you are targeting For tip top schools, there's not much room for weakness on an application so it matters more. For good state schools, etc. there's probably more leeway for kids to pick and choose where they demonstrate their excellence and if they replace language with something impressive (more ap science courses, for instance), then they're probably fine.

There's a lot of discussion of this topic over on the College Board, and, really, each person's situation is unique. But if your kid is shooting for highly selective, IMO it would be a mistake to completely drop FL after freshman year. Perhaps switch to a different FL?

[Anonymous]

“Great student with high test scores” means very little for someone halfway through 9th grade. It didn’t even mean much for my friend’s ds who scored 800 on the math sat in 7th grade. Your student has a long way to go between now
and college admissions, just saying.

[Anonymous]

The selective colleges want foreign language all 4 years but most are unclear about whether getting to level 4 is sufficient (and your child is only at level 2). My DD is at level 5 (which is IB at her school) as a junior and really wants to drop language too but it’s unclear whether that will affect her admissions chances.