If your kid took 2 credits of language in MS do they need to take a language in HS?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Kid took Chinese in MS, and liked it, but is looking at a HS program that doesn't offer it.
We're wondering if he can find some way to do Chinese as an EC, and just not take a language in high school, rather than starting a new language. Would this meet graduation criteria? How would it look to colleges? |
Anonymous
| Won’t look good. Needs four years of language. Start over. Extracurricular won’t be up to snuff. |
Anonymous
| Guidance counselors will tell you that no matter what you did in middle school, colleges want to see that you took at least 2 years of the same foreign language while in high school (same for both years in high school, doesn’t have to be the same as middle school). |
Anonymous
But allowed? I'm thinking of an extracurricular like CTY online classes, so the rigor would be the same or greater than school, it just wouldn't appear on their MCPS transcript. |
Anonymous
| Would not do it, even with an extracurricular language. |
Anonymous
| Omg!!! This is your third thread! Stop posting separate threads |
Anonymous
Yes, it is allowed. If a student has completed two credits in a world language during middle school, that will satisfy the HS graduation requirement. |
Anonymous
Can you link to the other two threads you think are mine? I am confused. |
Anonymous
There have been two other recent threads about whether or not to continue a language not offered at the home school, one of which specified it was for Mandarin. College admissions are really competitive these days, OP. So if you harbor some hope that your kid will get into a nationally known school (and we're not talking Ivy here), they need to show they've done as much as humanly possible. That's all. No slacking off to meet the minimum requirements. That might not get them into UMD if they do that. You can ask around to see whether MCPS has accredited a Chinese school. We're French and our kids have received half credit for taking French classes at their native language school. We didn't actually ask for all the credit they were entitled to, because it's not weighted the same as their advanced courses and we didn't want to lower their gpa. They took another language in MCPS, so they met their language requirements anyway. |
Anonymous
No actually no. They need at least one more year. |
Anonymous
They do not, for HS graduation requirements. They may need more to get accepted at certain colleges, but completing two credits in the same language is what is necessary to graduate HS. Two credits means having taken the 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B (or higher) classes. |
Anonymous
Neither of those are mine. This just occurred to me as a question yesterday, because of all the posts about SMACS, and so I read them since he might apply next year. It didn't occur to me until yesterday that SMACS didn't have Chinese, until I clicked a link in a thread. |
Anonymous
| UMD only requires 2 years of foreign language. But UVA requires 4. OP, read the college board, there is TONS of discussion of this very same question. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone know how colleges view ASL as a foreign language? Quirky and different or some kind of cop-out? |
Anonymous
|
I don't know about this particular course, but mcps allows enrollment in online AP courses if not offered that term at the home school. After two years, your kid isn't ready for the AP course. But it's possible that if they did serious outside language study, they could enroll in the online AP courses junior/senior year, which would show up on mcps transcript and also validate the outside study.
(You'd need to make sure that whatever you are planning would set them up for success in the AP courses, of course) |