Dropping AP Spanish

[Anonymous]

It's one data point that differentiates among the multiple applications coming out of a HS. It depends on major and so much more than just continuing or stopping FL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he needs to take Spanish his junior yr, definitely. Whatever level would be appropriate. Colleges do not care or count what one has done/taken in middle school, even if received HS credit for it. It doesn’t matter. You need at least 3 yrs of foreign language, in high school, or through AP.

says who? this isn't logical. It is not just that definitely defies my personal anecdata, it is that it doesn't make sense. You are acting like it doesn't matter where the kid ends up which is ridiculous. AP's kid is a super high achiever. There is no universe where he will be punished for taking linear algebra over another year of Spanish.

Schools want well rounded students, not math robots. 2 yrs of Spanish in HS isn’t enough. Linear algebra isn’t going to set him apart from many of the other applicants that also took that, and have taken 3-4 yrs of foreign language.

He’s taken FIVE years of high school Spanish.

They don’t care about middle school language classes. Unless you’ve maxed out the courses available at your high school. They want to see at least 3 years of language in HIGH SCHOOL - 4 is better. Middle school language courses are NOT the rigor of high school ones.

This is nonsensical. Language is cumulative. If a kid does FL 1 & 2 in middle school & then does well in FL 3+ in high school, clearly the middle school courses were rigorous enough. It’s the same standards of learning (what the course must cover, at least in VA). You can’t do well in a language if you learned nothing your first few years

That’s like saying Algebra 1 in middle school doesn’t count. Math is also cumulative. Doing well in Algebra 2 proves Algebra 1 was sufficient

Of course the middle school class still counts in that it happened, but if you stop math at Honors Pre-Calc in 10th grade, and never take AP Calc or anything more advanced, (even though it is offered in your school in 11th), they are going to notice that. There is no good reason to stop a core class at Sophomore year if you've accelerated in it. Will it be a deal-breaker? Probably not, but it is never going to be a positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he needs to take Spanish his junior yr, definitely. Whatever level would be appropriate. Colleges do not care or count what one has done/taken in middle school, even if received HS credit for it. It doesn’t matter. You need at least 3 yrs of foreign language, in high school, or through AP.

says who? this isn't logical. It is not just that definitely defies my personal anecdata, it is that it doesn't make sense. You are acting like it doesn't matter where the kid ends up which is ridiculous. AP's kid is a super high achiever. There is no universe where he will be punished for taking linear algebra over another year of Spanish.

Schools want well rounded students, not math robots. 2 yrs of Spanish in HS isn’t enough. Linear algebra isn’t going to set him apart from many of the other applicants that also took that, and have taken 3-4 yrs of foreign language.

He’s taken FIVE years of high school Spanish.

They don’t care about middle school language classes. Unless you’ve maxed out the courses available at your high school. They want to see at least 3 years of language in HIGH SCHOOL - 4 is better. Middle school language courses are NOT the rigor of high school ones.

This is nonsensical. Language is cumulative. If a kid does FL 1 & 2 in middle school & then does well in FL 3+ in high school, clearly the middle school courses were rigorous enough. It’s the same standards of learning (what the course must cover, at least in VA). You can’t do well in a language if you learned nothing your first few years

That’s like saying Algebra 1 in middle school doesn’t count. Math is also cumulative. Doing well in Algebra 2 proves Algebra 1 was sufficient

Of course the middle school class still counts in that it happened, but if you stop math at Honors Pre-Calc in 10th grade, and never take AP Calc or anything more advanced, (even though it is offered in your school in 11th), they are going to notice that. There is no good reason to stop a core class at Sophomore year if you've accelerated in it. Will it be a deal-breaker? Probably not, but it is never going to be a positive.

Agree

[Anonymous]

OP, I personally think language requirements are kind of nonsensical…but our kids were told to have language classes all four years.

Our school offered several language culture classes which honestly had very little FL and were mostly learning about Spanish or French or German culture (much more like a social studies class).

Our kids took one year of that because they didn’t want to take AP and it still showed on the transcript as a language class. Both now at Top 20 schools.

Maybe your school has something similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he needs to take Spanish his junior yr, definitely. Whatever level would be appropriate. Colleges do not care or count what one has done/taken in middle school, even if received HS credit for it. It doesn’t matter. You need at least 3 yrs of foreign language, in high school, or through AP.

says who? this isn't logical. It is not just that definitely defies my personal anecdata, it is that it doesn't make sense. You are acting like it doesn't matter where the kid ends up which is ridiculous. AP's kid is a super high achiever. There is no universe where he will be punished for taking linear algebra over another year of Spanish.

Schools want well rounded students, not math robots. 2 yrs of Spanish in HS isn’t enough. Linear algebra isn’t going to set him apart from many of the other applicants that also took that, and have taken 3-4 yrs of foreign language.

He’s taken FIVE years of high school Spanish.

They don’t care about middle school language classes. Unless you’ve maxed out the courses available at your high school. They want to see at least 3 years of language in HIGH SCHOOL - 4 is better. Middle school language courses are NOT the rigor of high school ones.

This is nonsensical. Language is cumulative. If a kid does FL 1 & 2 in middle school & then does well in FL 3+ in high school, clearly the middle school courses were rigorous enough. It’s the same standards of learning (what the course must cover, at least in VA). You can’t do well in a language if you learned nothing your first few years

That’s like saying Algebra 1 in middle school doesn’t count. Math is also cumulative. Doing well in Algebra 2 proves Algebra 1 was sufficient

Absolutely, if freshman and seniors are both in Spanish 4 together and doing well, clearly the middle school curriculum was good. Plus, middle school is a much better time to learn a language. The younger the better.

It does bug me that so many people see language classes only through the prism of college admissions and the idea that it's good just to know another language.

[Anonymous]

The way I’m thinking about it is - if the college has a language requirement to get a degree, then they want to see it all 4 years of high school. If they don’t and the kid replaces it with another rigorous course, doing 1-2 years less isn’t the biggest deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he needs to take Spanish his junior yr, definitely. Whatever level would be appropriate. Colleges do not care or count what one has done/taken in middle school, even if received HS credit for it. It doesn’t matter. You need at least 3 yrs of foreign language, in high school, or through AP.

says who? this isn't logical. It is not just that definitely defies my personal anecdata, it is that it doesn't make sense. You are acting like it doesn't matter where the kid ends up which is ridiculous. AP's kid is a super high achiever. There is no universe where he will be punished for taking linear algebra over another year of Spanish.

Schools want well rounded students, not math robots. 2 yrs of Spanish in HS isn’t enough. Linear algebra isn’t going to set him apart from many of the other applicants that also took that, and have taken 3-4 yrs of foreign language.

He’s taken FIVE years of high school Spanish.

Again- no one cares what your kid took in MIDDLE SCHOOL. My kid took Alg 1-precalc in middle school. And guess what? They still have to take another 4 yrs in math in high school. Same for English. My child finished through 12th grade English in middle school and has the credits on transcript- still has to 4 more yrs of English. This has been confirmed by admission officers. Middle school classes don’t matter from a college admission standpoint

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he already has 4 years of high school language credits (including 8th grade), and thinks the math class will be easier for him, it should be fine. Especially if math comes more naturally to him and he will be a STEM.

Most colleges only require three years anyway, but he should confirm with his top choices of schools that four years of language should be enough.

He has five years of high school Spanish (three of which were in middle school) all with As. He doesn’t have top choices yet but he has a 4.95 weighted GPA and got full marks in the PSAT so he could potentially be applying to very competitive schools so I want to make sure he understands whether this will have any impact on his applications.

Do middle school grades and credit count? I thought our counselor said no. My kid is in a DLI program since elementary school, so will take AP Spanish in 9th, and was told he still needs at least 2 more years of language credit after 9th to satisfy college requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he already has 4 years of high school language credits (including 8th grade), and thinks the math class will be easier for him, it should be fine. Especially if math comes more naturally to him and he will be a STEM.

Most colleges only require three years anyway, but he should confirm with his top choices of schools that four years of language should be enough.

He has five years of high school Spanish (three of which were in middle school) all with As. He doesn’t have top choices yet but he has a 4.95 weighted GPA and got full marks in the PSAT so he could potentially be applying to very competitive schools so I want to make sure he understands whether this will have any impact on his applications.

Do middle school grades and credit count? I thought our counselor said no. My kid is in a DLI program since elementary school, so will take AP Spanish in 9th, and was told he still needs at least 2 more years of language credit after 9th to satisfy college requirements.

Depends on the district and the classes. Our district gives credit for high school credit for Spanish I in middle school, but the grade isn’t on transcript. But Alg I and above taken in middle school has both the grade and credit on high school transcript, same for English 9 and above taken in middle school. But I’ve been advised, colleges won’t accept that as high school work- they still want to see 4 yrs of core classes in grades 9-12, even if that means dual enrollment. I think language is the one where there is some wiggle room on the 4th yr

[Anonymous]

In Fcps, 8th grade Spanish 1 counts toward high school credits for foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he needs to take Spanish his junior yr, definitely. Whatever level would be appropriate. Colleges do not care or count what one has done/taken in middle school, even if received HS credit for it. It doesn’t matter. You need at least 3 yrs of foreign language, in high school, or through AP.

says who? this isn't logical. It is not just that definitely defies my personal anecdata, it is that it doesn't make sense. You are acting like it doesn't matter where the kid ends up which is ridiculous. AP's kid is a super high achiever. There is no universe where he will be punished for taking linear algebra over another year of Spanish.

Schools want well rounded students, not math robots. 2 yrs of Spanish in HS isn’t enough. Linear algebra isn’t going to set him apart from many of the other applicants that also took that, and have taken 3-4 yrs of foreign language.

He’s taken FIVE years of high school Spanish.

They don’t care about middle school language classes. Unless you’ve maxed out the courses available at your high school. They want to see at least 3 years of language in HIGH SCHOOL - 4 is better. Middle school language courses are NOT the rigor of high school ones.

This is nonsensical. Language is cumulative. If a kid does FL 1 & 2 in middle school & then does well in FL 3+ in high school, clearly the middle school courses were rigorous enough. It’s the same standards of learning (what the course must cover, at least in VA). You can’t do well in a language if you learned nothing your first few years

That’s like saying Algebra 1 in middle school doesn’t count. Math is also cumulative. Doing well in Algebra 2 proves Algebra 1 was sufficient

Of course the middle school class still counts in that it happened, but if you stop math at Honors Pre-Calc in 10th grade, and never take AP Calc or anything more advanced, (even though it is offered in your school in 11th), they are going to notice that. There is no good reason to stop a core class at Sophomore year if you've accelerated in it. Will it be a deal-breaker? Probably not, but it is never going to be a positive.

But that isn't what people are implying. At my high school, Honors Spanish 3 is the same class whether you are a freshman or a junior - they are literally mixed in the same class. Posters are acting like it looks worse to take Spanish 4 as a sophomore and then take other extremely high level classes in different subjects, than to take Spanish 4 as a senior and not take those high level classes.

This is illogical and cannot be true. Admissions officers are not this stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be fine to stop taking Spanish. Only the DMV area schools do language 4 & language 5. Most of the country has FL 1,2,3 AP.

By virtue of the fact your kid didn't take AP after the 3rd year confirms they are not a top notch linguist, which is absolutely fine. They got the A they covered the minimum reqs.

He may not be a top notch linguist but it wasn’t an option to take AP before Spanish 5 at his school.

It is always an option if you've got someone who is genuinely very good at the language and going into 12th grade.
9th grade - year 1
10th grade - year 2
11th grade- year 3
12th grade - AP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be fine to stop taking Spanish. Only the DMV area schools do language 4 & language 5. Most of the country has FL 1,2,3 AP.

By virtue of the fact your kid didn't take AP after the 3rd year confirms they are not a top notch linguist, which is absolutely fine. They got the A they covered the minimum reqs.

He may not be a top notch linguist but it wasn’t an option to take AP before Spanish 5 at his school.

It is always an option if you've got someone who is genuinely very good at the language and going into 12th grade.
9th grade - year 1
10th grade - year 2
11th grade- year 3
12th grade - AP

DP, but not if the school doesn’t allow that progression. DC’s school requires FL 4 before AP. FL 5 is post-AP. At other schools, students choose between AP and 5, they never take both. At others, AP must come after 5.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure if there’s any impact on admissions, but the big reason to stay in AP Spanish is that if he ends up at a college with a foreign language requirement, he will be so glad if he can fulfill it via AP scores versus taking more language in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure if there’s any impact on admissions, but the big reason to stay in AP Spanish is that if he ends up at a college with a foreign language requirement, he will be so glad if he can fulfill it via AP scores versus taking more language in college.

This. Especially if there’s a 2+ year gap between his last language classes and a college placement test - the AP score could get him out even if he’s gotten too rusty to pass a placement test.