Foreign Languages Requirement

[Anonymous]

I am getting so many mix messages, from parents and even from high school counselors.

When colleges say "4 years of languages", what do they really mean? I have spoken to a 3 high school counselors and they have said that it means 4 years including those in middle school. They, of course, encourage kids to take as high as students can handle but counselors did say that colleges do not require 4 years of foreign languages to be taken while in HS if the language was started in MS.

But when I go on DCUM, it seems like some are saying things differently? Just curious if any of you have asked a college admin?

We have also seen friends who got admitted to UVA with only 3 years of FL taken while in HS, albeit the highest level the kids took was AP French in 11th grade.

Please help me understand because there seems to be lots of information floating around and I am not sure which is true, even after speaking to the counselors.

[Anonymous]

There is no uniform set of admissions criteria. There might be an answer of one particular college, but there is no answer for all “colleges.”

[Anonymous]

At every Virginia school we visited (UVA, WM, Tech, JMU, CNU), they said a year of foreign language on your transcript (including a high school level course completed in middle school) = a year of foreign language in high school. Some do not require 4 years, but stated that’s how they count a year.

Some believe UVA will want you to go through to AP foreign language if available and finish early, but it’s not clear how firm that is, as some recent posters (and posters of FB college pages) said their kids got in by reaching level 4.

I would ask at ever school you are interested in and the requirements are not clear.

[Anonymous]

Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to the previous posters for this information!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no uniform set of admissions criteria. There might be an answer of one particular college, but there is no answer for all “colleges.”

This. There are so many independent variables at play that there is no one answer. My kid dropped after 11th grade with 4 years of language but did not take AP Lang. For a humanities kid, that might not have been the best choice even though he filled the slot with another AP more geared towards his intended major, but even then it will be hard to identify if that 1 factor ultimately plays a role (for reference he's applying T25-75). For a math/science kid who filled that slot with another rigorous math/science class maybe it's more obviously okay.

I was very frustrated by this nonanswer-answer last year too so I get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Eh, I'd be hesitant to write off feedback around this issue as misinformation. There are plenty of schools whose published requirements don't match that of their typical applicant - and it's the typical applicant, particularly from own school, who is your "competition".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Eh, I'd be hesitant to write off feedback around this issue as misinformation. There are plenty of schools whose published requirements don't match that of their typical applicant - and it's the typical applicant, particularly from own school, who is your "competition".

But are kids loading up on languages when they see other kids loading up on languages, but in reality the school might not find it as relevant to go that high-level? Would the school been just as happy, had the child pursue language (to say level 4) then pursued something else that mattered more to what the student really would enjoy in their possible career goals?

[Anonymous]

As others have said, there is no consistent answer across schools.

Absent that, the most reliable guidance seems to be that highly selective schools (e.g. UVA) want students to take the most challenging classes available to the student across English, History, Science, Math, and Foreign Language.

For many/most students, that means four years of FL; for some, that means only two or three if they max out (generally with an AP class) earlier.

There does not seem to be any credible indication that a student who maxes out via an AP class junior year needs to start a new language senior year—again, because the issue isn’t “four years”; it’s achieving highest possible rigor (and presumably the student will take another challenging class in FL’s place senior year).

There are certainly students who don’t max out on rigor and quit FL earlier in HS who still get into highly selective schools; presumably, because of some combination of area of interest and compensatory rigor in other areas etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Ivies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Going back to OP's question, does the 4 year count include HS courses in middle school?

In our case, DC will be finishing language level 4 as a junior. Struggling to decide if they should move on to L5 (not doing AP given the load with other APs) or do something they want to do (like photography).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Ivies

They may recommend 4 years, but they do not require. There are successful applicants without the 4th year/level. It's merely one factor when considering rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Going back to OP's question, does the 4 year count include HS courses in middle school?

In our case, DC will be finishing language level 4 as a junior. Struggling to decide if they should move on to L5 (not doing AP given the load with other APs) or do something they want to do (like photography).

This is a common question. There is no one size fits all answer. It's unlikely to be a decisive factor for admission to a highly selective school - admission would depend on the rest of the app, how much rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, this forum is a hot bed of misinformation.

There is no college the requires 4 years of a foreign language. Many colleges do not even recommend foreign language. Here is a site that collects this data from the common datasets:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/foreign-language-requirements

SLACs are more likely to require foreign language (but not 4 years), and to recommend 4 years.

Ivies

They may recommend 4 years, but they do not require. There are successful applicants without the 4th year/level. It's merely one factor when considering rigor.

But that's the point and I haven't seen anyone in this thread disagree outside of the "misinformation" poster. It is a factor when considering rigor and if it matters to a student the best way to address it is to max out with AP Language Jr or Sr year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, there is no consistent answer across schools.

Absent that, the most reliable guidance seems to be that highly selective schools (e.g. UVA) want students to take the most challenging classes available to the student across English, History, Science, Math, and Foreign Language.

For many/most students, that means four years of FL; for some, that means only two or three if they max out (generally with an AP class) earlier.

There does not seem to be any credible indication that a student who maxes out via an AP class junior year needs to start a new language senior year—again, because the issue isn’t “four years”; it’s achieving highest possible rigor (and presumably the student will take another challenging class in FL’s place senior year).

There are certainly students who don’t max out on rigor and quit FL earlier in HS who still get into highly selective schools; presumably, because of some combination of area of interest and compensatory rigor in other areas etc.

Spot on. Aim for the most rigorous classes. If your student can't handle them, has competing interests and not aiming at top schools, then it's completely okay to make different choices.