UVA, VT and years of foreign language
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Anonymous
| Son in at VT for engineering last year after stopping language after 10th. Denied UVA. |
Anonymous
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Didn’t apply to VT.
Accepted EA UVA. 4 years taken in high school. (Different language than MS). To be fair—UW 4.0 from private, 35 (one sitting) ACT and submitted 5s on all AP exams—so no idea if the FL had anything to do with it. He didn’t make it to AP —level 4. Not a STEm major |
Anonymous
| ^ language is his least favorite subject too. HS Counselor told him he could drop it senior year, but I saw Ivies like 4 years too and I told him it’s better not to wonder if that was the reason for denial, etc. just take it. |
Anonymous
| Does the year they take in 8th grade count towards the four? So 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th? |
Anonymous
Not for UVA, she addressed this in last live |
Anonymous
UVA is clear that they want to see four years IN HIGH SCHOOL and the language taken in MS don't count towards this recommendation. Our DD has taken two years in MS. I can't imagine her wanting to take AP Spanish Language but she will have to either suck it up or switch langauge in 9th. I don't know which approach will be best for her. |
Anonymous
| At many schools you can still reach AP in a world language if you start in 9th. My kid started a language in 9th grade with level 1 and is taking AP in 12th. At DC’s school it goes 1, 2, 3, and then 4 or AP depending on your grade in level 3. |
Anonymous
Yeah. My youngest will have Honors Spanish 1-3 and take AP Spanish Senior year. There is no Honors Spanish IV. His brother was non-honors and just took Spanish I-4 (honors Freshmen year, but notoriously hard teacher and he struggled to get that A--saw how hard it would to keep going at that level with all of his other rigorous courses when language isn't his thing). |
Anonymous
I have one at UVA and one at VT The UVA took six years of Spanish including AP Spanish and a summer immersion experience in Spain. This includes Spanish I and Spanish II in 7th and 8th grades. VT took four years of Spanish and two years of American Sign Language. |
Anonymous
Daughter in at UVA, did not apply to Tech. Took Spanish all the way through - not AP. |
Anonymous
If she is applying to selective schools, they want to see the same language all the way through. I initially wanted my DC to switch to Latin, but college counselor advised against it in favor of continuing with same language. DC just accepted EA to UVA. |
Anonymous
Apologies if this is a dumb question—parent of an middle-schooler here. So is it better for kids to take a year of language in 8th grade or skip it and wait till 9th? If they start in 8th, will they top out before they can complete 4 years in HS? |
Anonymous
| Does WM want the four years of language as much as IVA does? |
Anonymous
Do you mind sharing which organization they did the summer immersion experience with and if it was worthwhile? |
Anonymous
|
DS FCPS 2021 grad took 3 years of Chinese (including 2 years middle school = 1 year of HS) and 2 years of German. In at VT EA, but didn't go.
DS FCPS 2024 grad took 3 years of Chinese (including 2 years middle school = 1 year of HS) and 2 years of German. In at UVA at EA. Also, for what's worth, the UVA admit had 3 B's among the 23 grades considered by UVA at the time of admission. I say this to counter the posters who say that you need all As and all 4 years of the same foreign language in HS to get into UVA. Yes, of course that would help in getting in, but it's not an absolute must. |