How many years of foreign language needed in high school for college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Google the name of the college and “common data set.” Find the most recent version and look at section C5. Distribution of high school units required and/or recommended.

This won’t answer the Q of whether a college cares about your MS classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you should be more concerned about him getting -out- of college. College requirements for entrance are there for a reason. Will he have to take a FL in college to graduate? Depends. Research that and you'll know the college will view his application.

Agreed. My son is doing 4 years of Spanish but his university requests only 3 from applicants. However, his skills are not as strong as they should be, and the university requires a language placement test regardless of APs and IBs. So we are expecting him to have to take Spanish in college. Hopefully just one class (4th semester college Spanish would be a fair placement). All of the background on requirements is available on the university's various web pages.

[Anonymous]

There is no one perfect path through HS. Sounds like your kid wants to take Chemistry which is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google the name of the college and “common data set.” Find the most recent version and look at section C5. Distribution of high school units required and/or recommended.

This won’t answer the Q of whether a college cares about your MS classes.

Colleges DON'T care about MS classes.

Obviously, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google the name of the college and “common data set.” Find the most recent version and look at section C5. Distribution of high school units required and/or recommended.

This won’t answer the Q of whether a college cares about your MS classes.

Colleges DON'T care about MS classes.

Obviously, right?

You might think it’s obvious but many colleges require students to report middle school courses taken for high school credit on the SRAR.

“Obviously” a college wouldn’t require you to report a class they don’t care about, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it matters if it's in HS or MS - selective colleges want to see 4 years in HS (same language, not Spanish 3 and 4 and then French 1 and 2). You have to show rigor compared to classmates, and the way to do that is foreign language, math, and science. And lots of AP or IB courses

OP here - I understand the need to show rigor, but it's a tradeoff. He can either take Spanish V or he can take AP Chem. Can't fit both in.

Mine started Spanish in 6th like yours. We are dropping it jr. year for other things and AP's. If going up to Spanish 6 is not enough and a college doesn't want them, I'm ok with that.

[Anonymous]

DC is taking Physics or AP Calculus AB in lieu of Spanish 5 as it’s the only way to get in either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google the name of the college and “common data set.” Find the most recent version and look at section C5. Distribution of high school units required and/or recommended.

This won’t answer the Q of whether a college cares about your MS classes.

Colleges DON'T care about MS classes.

Obviously, right?

You might think it’s obvious but many colleges require students to report middle school courses taken for high school credit on the SRAR.

“Obviously” a college wouldn’t require you to report a class they don’t care about, right?

Middle school is over.

Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a high school sophomore considering courses for junior year. He is taking Spanish IV now but doesn't like it very much. He wants to take AP Chem next year instead of continuing on with Spanish. (AP Chem is two periods, so there isn't room for both; we've been through the rest of the schedule and the only one that makes sense to drop is Spanish.)

He will be applying to reasonably selective colleges. I have heard that some colleges want students to have a certain number of years of foreign lang in high school, or it may hurt them in admissions. But how do I find this info? I don't see it on college websites.

Three if STEM / Business major

Four if Humanities major.

Five if either, in a top school.

[Anonymous]

DD tested into honors French 2 as freshman and is taking AP French as a sophomore but has to take 2 years of Latin which she will take jr and st years. If she doubles up on language to take a 3rd year of AP French (4th actual year of French) she has to give up a basic AP science like bio or chem. What’s recommended for a stem interested kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid took AP foreign language in 10th grade. It freed up his 11th and 12th grade schedule to take other interesting classes. He did 2 years in HS, and three years in MS.

Colleges don't care about MS. Irrelevant to the discussion.

Wouldn't they care about high school credit classes taken in MS?

No.

Colleges look at HS transcripts.

OP again. I'm not sure you know what you're talking about. High school credit classes taken in middle school ARE on the high school transcript. Have you seen a high school transcript?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the schools. My 2 kids are at UMD and both had just 2 years in HS. Between them they were also accepted to U of Miami, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Skidmore off the top of my head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid took AP foreign language in 10th grade. It freed up his 11th and 12th grade schedule to take other interesting classes. He did 2 years in HS, and three years in MS.

Colleges don't care about MS. Irrelevant to the discussion.

Wouldn't they care about high school credit classes taken in MS?

No.

Colleges look at HS transcripts.

What’s the point of getting high school credit for advanced language classes in middle school if colleges won’t even consider the them?

I think top colleges don’t, but there are many that do.

My child took 2 yrs of high school English and 4 yrs of high school math in middle school and I was told if they want to get into a top school, those schools don’t care about credits earned in middle school. They want to see 4 yrs of math and English in high school. I’m assuming it is same for foreign language

[Anonymous]

Middle school doesn’t count. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google the name of the college and “common data set.” Find the most recent version and look at section C5. Distribution of high school units required and/or recommended.

This won’t answer the Q of whether a college cares about your MS classes.

Colleges DON'T care about MS classes.

Obviously, right?

You might think it’s obvious but many colleges require students to report middle school courses taken for high school credit on the SRAR.

“Obviously” a college wouldn’t require you to report a class they don’t care about, right?[/quote]

The SRAR? Elite schools don’t use the SRAR. It is mostly big flagships. Maybe NYU and Northeastern use it? Otherwise, it is schools like Clemson, LSU, Penn State. Those types of schools do not care about 4 years of language for admissions.