UVA & HS Foreign Language

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

Mom to 3 current or very recent UVA students. If your son is applying to college of arts and sciences the answer is yes, he needs to take a language all 4 years of HS if he wants a decent chance at admission. He will also be required to take 2 more years of a foreign language at UVA unless he earns a 5 on an AP foreign language exam (don’t think a 4 satisfies but it may depend on the language) or a similarly high score on an IB language exam.

What about if student is applying to engineering school at UVA? 3 years of foreign language ok then?

My kid applied to aerospace engineering at UVA and got in. He was told four years if a single language and did it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

Not a big sample size but I know 6 kids who are at UVA and every single one of them had 4+ years of language. Some had 6 with middle school. My assessment is UVA is fanatical about languages. My child was off the charts with test scores and grades but only 3 years language and was denied. In my view, it matters A LOT.

Adding to your samples: DC is a UVA student (CS in engineering) who took 5 years of a language. Never really considered that they might be huge about languages, but it’s possible.

[Anonymous]

A lot of foreign language discussion, lately. I am trying to figure out if taking a language extensively outside of high school courses is a substitute (such as a 4 hour Saturday school that many kids of immigrant parents attend). Also, how does the three years of test out credit affect these requirements?

[Anonymous]

DC was admitted ED in December with 4 years of a language - the last year (this year) they are taking it at AP level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

Not a big sample size but I know 6 kids who are at UVA and every single one of them had 4+ years of language. Some had 6 with middle school. My assessment is UVA is fanatical about languages. My child was off the charts with test scores and grades but only 3 years language and was denied. In my view, it matters A LOT.

Agreed. More than any other selective school we liked at, UVA cared the most about languages.

[Anonymous]

What if a kid took 2 years in one language and 2 years in another? Do they look down on that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

You need four years for top schools and UVA. If you exhaust four years, you should take an AP language. Your student should be taking the most rigorous course of studies in all fields.

May be true for UVA but definitely NOT true for most other elite. They care about taking rigor, not language. If your kid is taking AP Psychology or AP Spanish, they do not care!! Only Most rigorous course load matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

Does this mean your DS took only 2 years of high school level foreign language. So he's basically stopping at level 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC has a friend who didn't go for the 4th year of their language in 11th grade while my DC proceeded. This surprised me as I thought this would affect college chances. But the friend did take Year 4 in 12th grade. And has just been accepted to UVA.

My DC got accepted ED to their first choice and withdrew UVA application so we'll never know, but I do think it helps a lot.

When you say Year 4, does that mean the friend took foreign language level 4? Or does this mean they took 3 years in total (Fresh, Soph, Senior) of FL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is completing his third year of HS Foreign Language as a Sophomore this school year. He is thinking of stopping at three years. He will probably take some AP class of greater interest in its place.

Would only 3 years of Language hurt his chances at UVA admission and how seriously would it hurt? UVA is the most selective college he is likely to apply to. He is tracking towards a decent chance of admission in other ways - GPA, Test Score, Sport & Activities etc.

You need four years for top schools and UVA. If you exhaust four years, you should take an AP language. Your student should be taking the most rigorous course of studies in all fields.

May be true for UVA but definitely NOT true for most other elite. They care about taking rigor, not language. If your kid is taking AP Psychology or AP Spanish, they do not care!! Only Most rigorous course load matters.

Not in my experience. Ivies also want to see four years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if a kid took 2 years in one language and 2 years in another? Do they look down on that?

Yes it’s better to have 4 years of the same language

[Anonymous]

What seems to be ridiculous about this conversation is insisting that a student has to take 4 years of same language IN HIGH SCHOOL. Most students begin in middle school. Why should UVA or anywhere else care if a student takes AP as a Junior in their language and then doesn’t have a language Senior year so they can use the elective time elsewhere? Say, a STEM student add an extra Science?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if a kid took 2 years in one language and 2 years in another? Do they look down on that?

Yes. Cost my kid some acceptances. The counselor never explained this to them or they would have made a different choice.

[Anonymous]

My DC is taking 3rd year of language as a sophomore (was able to get credit for level 1&2 through credit exam) and planning to take AP level as a junior. No plans to take any foreign language senior year but will have very rigorous course load with mostly AP or post AP classes at TJ. Will DC be competitive enough with regard to foreign language classes in HS for top colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is taking 3rd year of language as a sophomore (was able to get credit for level 1&2 through credit exam) and planning to take AP level as a junior. No plans to take any foreign language senior year but will have very rigorous course load with mostly AP or post AP classes at TJ. Will DC be competitive enough with regard to foreign language classes in HS for top colleges?

My understanding is that this is fine since they will have taken AP.