Is four years of a foreign language still recommended for college admission?

[Anonymous]

3 yrs of foreign lang vs 4 is not going to be the reason for denial at top colleges if the rest of the schedule is rigorous enough. Tons of kids are accepted with 3 and tons are denied even with 4.

Caveat, I don't know about UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges also vary in what they mean by this requirement. Some count the years you took in middle school. Some want to see you take three or four years of language in grades 9-12.

Do you have a cite for this? Some parents seem to assume that but I've never seen it in practice.

Good point. Some schools specify that they want the language to be actually taken in high school (UDel is one), and others don’t specify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious and looking ahead for my 9th grader. He's in his second year of Spanish and struggling a bit. Wondering if he does spanish 3 sophomore year if that's enough? It's his only B!

He's in Honors orchestra already as a sophomore, plays on the J-V baseball team (and actually is a starter), and has As in all his other honors subjects. Currently in Algebra 2, so on that math pacing and will take math through senior year.

What do you think? Is three years of a language enough?

Keep in mind that Spanish 3 in 10th grade may not equal 3 years of HS Spanish. As others have said, look at schools your child might be interested in, but IME, the schools basically require 3 years of the same language *in HS* (and often recommend a 4th). Meaning 9th, 10th, and 11th grades.

My daughter had a very successful college application experience with a language in 9, 10, and 11 but not 12. But she doubled up on other academic courses (two English and two science classes senior year) and was not applying to the Ivies or the like. My younger daughter struggles with language learning and we plan to do the same. The college counselor at their private school advised that you could drop 1 of the 5 main subjects senior year if you replaced it with another rigorous FY course. But again, she's not aiming for the Ivies.

[Anonymous]

For select colleges, yes, they want to see 4 years of foreign language in HS (I would say top 30, and maybe top 50). If that's not in your son's plans, then don't worry about it

[Anonymous]

Funny how you bring up orchestra and baseball. Unless he’s recruited for either, they will play second fiddle to his course load.

[Anonymous]

How does it work if kid has already been taking the language before HS? Our MS says kids typically place out of levels 1 and 2 of HS in the same language, so does that mean they need to repeat the classes so they still have 4 years of the language?

[Anonymous]

I'm confused by this "4 years of language in high school" distinction. My son took 8th grade Spanish 1 as a high school class at his middle school. It will be listed on his high school transcript. Just like Algebra 1 Honors in 8th grade is a high school credit listed on his transcript.

In that case, is it still frowned upon by some colleges to take Spanish 1 in 8th grade? I don't see why it would be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny how you bring up orchestra and baseball. Unless he’s recruited for either, they will play second fiddle to his course load.

Do colleges not consider extracurriculars anymore? I guess I'm really out of it. I brought that all up to say that he's a well-rounded kid (excels in a sport and in music) that is getting excellent grades in Honors/AP classes for math, english, science, history. I thought that might mean that having 3 years of a language would be glanced over if everything else was good. Apparently I have some research to do!

[Anonymous]

What about UMD? Does UMD count the high school credits earned in middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does it work if kid has already been taking the language before HS? Our MS says kids typically place out of levels 1 and 2 of HS in the same language, so does that mean they need to repeat the classes so they still have 4 years of the language?

I think a lot of kids only end MS with year 1, so you'd take 2, 3, 4, and AP in high school.
And some schools have levels 5 or 6.
Obviously if your take all of the language classes at your school by the end of 11th, a college won't hold that against you.

[Anonymous]

You can see this in the CDS under admissions tab for each school. For instance, University of Maryland says Required 2 years of foreign language, recommended 2 years of foreign language, whereas UVA says required 2, recommended 4 years. W&M also recommends 4. So each school is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school only does 3 years.

3 years is probably a requirement for a type of diploma.

Our school has 100% of students go to college so 3 years is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can see this in the CDS under admissions tab for each school. For instance, University of Maryland says Required 2 years of foreign language, recommended 2 years of foreign language, whereas UVA says required 2, recommended 4 years. W&M also recommends 4. So each school is different.

Does anyone know if the two required years at UMD are satisfied by taking high school credits in middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious and looking ahead for my 9th grader. He's in his second year of Spanish and struggling a bit. Wondering if he does spanish 3 sophomore year if that's enough? It's his only B!

He's in Honors orchestra already as a sophomore, plays on the J-V baseball team (and actually is a starter), and has As in all his other honors subjects. Currently in Algebra 2, so on that math pacing and will take math through senior year.

What do you think? Is three years of a language enough?

Keep in mind that Spanish 3 in 10th grade may not equal 3 years of HS Spanish. As others have said, look at schools your child might be interested in, but IME, the schools basically require 3 years of the same language *in HS* (and often recommend a 4th). Meaning 9th, 10th, and 11th grades.

My daughter had a very successful college application experience with a language in 9, 10, and 11 but not 12. But she doubled up on other academic courses (two English and two science classes senior year) and was not applying to the Ivies or the like. My younger daughter struggles with language learning and we plan to do the same. The college counselor at their private school advised that you could drop 1 of the 5 main subjects senior year if you replaced it with another rigorous FY course. But again, she's not aiming for the Ivies.

Good to hear. DD took French and in 8th, then switched to Spanish in 9/10/11. Highest level will be Honors Spanish 3. She plans to drop next year so she can take AP Biology, which is a double period. She’s interested in STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how you bring up orchestra and baseball. Unless he’s recruited for either, they will play second fiddle to his course load.

Do colleges not consider extracurriculars anymore? I guess I'm really out of it. I brought that all up to say that he's a well-rounded kid (excels in a sport and in music) that is getting excellent grades in Honors/AP classes for math, english, science, history. I thought that might mean that having 3 years of a language would be glanced over if everything else was good. Apparently I have some research to do!

Of course extracurriculars matter, but never as much as coursework unless the college is recruiting you. The admissions committee will look at your grades and courses first, then everything else. Orchestra is not going to make up for not having four years of a language if four years of a language is important to a college - which it is for most selective colleges.