Spanish or Latin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

I'm not sure what universities don't recognize Latin. All my kids took Latin and every college and university recognized Latin as more than adequately fulfilling their requirements. I'd be interested to know what schools will not accept it: I know many of the top 20 or 30 most definitely accept Latin.

College admissions counselors and interviewers have directly told us that they love to see Latin on an applicant's transcript, because students who have taken Latin through high school are extremely well prepared for college-level studies. Many students who take Latin in high school go on to take another language in college or while still in high school and find that their previous Latin studies enable them to pick up another language much more easily.

Latin is more challenging, but colleges love to see students who have taken on rigorous courses in high school.

[Anonymous]

Much of children's education is to inspire a joy of learning and how to learn, not to remember every fact you learn at the time. I bet that most adults don't remember a lot of the facts they were made to learn in high school, like character details in novels or dates of historic events. Usually kids leave a class inspired or uninspired by a subject, point in history, etc. Since both Latin and Spanish are great subjects, I would lean towards letting your DC take the the one they want to take. He can then certainly transfer his extensive knowledge of how language works, grammar, vocabulary, history to his next language or other classes. If they stay in Latin long enough, in addition to learning how Western languages are structured, he will be able to read two thousand year old poetry like Virgil, Ovid, Catullus, etc. in the original text which is pretty amazing, and that is what colleges find so interesting about students pursuing Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

OP ,there are many good reasons to pick one language or the other noted in various posts above, but college language requirements are not one of them. My DC's small high school Latin class as a group earned admission to most selective colleges compared to the group of students who studies Spanish or other romance languages at their school. Latin today is taught as a combination of language, history, poetry, literature and political theory -- it is like taking a language class and a course in classics at the same time. I would have never expected this, but my DC fell in love with it and it propelled him in ways I never had imagined. And if for some reason he attends a college with an additional language requirement -- which he would know in advance and I am sure could avoid if he wants -- he'll learn another language in college by choice.

[Anonymous]

My advice from strongly advising a child to take a language that was practical - child hated it and switched midway. Now thriving. We love our children but we need to stop thinking obsessively about what they'll need in the future and let them follow their dreams in the now. Child was much wiser than me.
Ps. Latin is fantastic. Spanish is very easy to learn after or at the same time. I have studied both. If child wants to start with the harder one, it'll only make other language acquisition a breeze.

[Anonymous]

OP - Imagine your child takes Latin, falls in love with it, and becomes a Latin/Classics professor teaching at one the countries top universities? Or he becomes an advisor to the Vatican? Or he becomes an American History expert and translates never before translated letters written by the American founding fathers in the 1700s to one another than changes the way the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution? (yes, there are letters the founders wrote to each other in Latin that have never been translated -- UVA has a project on this that my DC's high school helped out on) And imagine all this makes him happy.

Now imagine he is forced to take Spanish, thinks its ok, hears that colleges think it is better to get through an AP language which he can do more easily with Spanish than Latin given his prior experience, but he never discovers Latin. Maybe he finds another great career he loves; maybe not. A parent should challenge the child and present arguments for and against these sort of choices, but at the end of the day as long as a teenagers choice is safe and reasonable, substituting your judgment for his seems like a slippery slope. Should he ask the girl to the prom who comes from a wealthier family with connections but he doesn't like as much as another girl he admires and makes his heart throb because his mom thinks the former may get him ahead in life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

I think the Service Academies (Air Force Academy, West Point) don't accept Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

Probably true pp, but things may well have changed since your boys were in high school if it was 12 years ago. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

I think the Service Academies (Air Force Academy, West Point) don't accept Latin.

Actually, I know for a fact that they do. I've been to service academy admissions programs where it has been stated that Latin fulfills their requirements and they see it on the transcripts of strong candidates. Latin is a big plus at all the top schools my family has researched.

[Anonymous]

Probably true pp, but things may well have changed since your boys were in high school if it was 12 years ago. Just sayin'.

Not the PP you were replying to, but I have researched this very recently and have found Latin to be highly thought of by many of the top-ranked schools. I personally have not come across any that do not accept it for the HS language requirement. I'd be interested to know which schools the OP found that do not accept it so my child knows that going into the application process.

OP, would you mind naming the schools that don't accept Latin? It would help those of us that are closer to application time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

Probably true pp, but things may well have changed since your boys were in high school if it was 12 years ago. Just sayin'.

Over the last 12 years. Daughter graduates from high school this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

I think the Service Academies (Air Force Academy, West Point) don't accept Latin.

Actually, I know for a fact that they do. I've been to service academy admissions programs where it has been stated that Latin fulfills their requirements and they see it on the transcripts of strong candidates. Latin is a big plus at all the top schools my family has researched.

And make sure you are talking about the right kind of "credit" .

As a USNA graduate who worked in admissions after graduation and who applied and was accepted to multiple other colleges as well: every college I looked at accepted Latin as a high school language just as they did with French or Spanish (incl USNA and West Point).

Now, the service academies won't give you AP credit for college because that is not a language that they offer, but that is true of many other colleges/universities as well. USNA also does look at scores on the AP Latin exam if your DC takes it and they do count that as a positive -- but they will not give credit for a college-level course that they do not offer...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

Probably true pp, but things may well have changed since your boys were in high school if it was 12 years ago. Just sayin'.

Over the last 12 years. Daughter graduates from high school this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the input. Upon further investigation, I found that although Latin would be recognized as the language requirements for HS, it likely will not be recognized by most universities. So Spanish it is next year. Then sophomore year we may look at Latin as an elective. Both DS and DH want Latin...but I am trying to be practical. If he skips Spanish this year, he will lose ground on the two years of HS spanish he had already completed in middle school.

This is completely not true. I have had three kids over the last 12 years all take four years of Latin in high school. Not only did it fulfill the language requirements of all the colleges they applied to (one went to an Ivy and the other two went to top LACs), the feedback from the admissions people is that they really liked seeing the Latin on kids transcripts, for all the reasons stated earlier. All my kids took another language in college and found it easy to learn, which is the experience of most people who take Latin. Also, all three said it really helped their writing and organization skills in college. I am not advocating taking Latin because it may boost one's SAT scores or attractiveness for college admissions. But there are clear and well documented benefits of taking any language in depth, especially if it is a language they want to take.

I think the Service Academies (Air Force Academy, West Point) don't accept Latin.

Actually, I know for a fact that they do. I've been to service academy admissions programs where it has been stated that Latin fulfills their requirements and they see it on the transcripts of strong candidates. Latin is a big plus at all the top schools my family has researched.

And make sure you are talking about the right kind of "credit" .

As a USNA graduate who worked in admissions after graduation and who applied and was accepted to multiple other colleges as well: every college I looked at accepted Latin as a high school language just as they did with French or Spanish (incl USNA and West Point).

Now, the service academies won't give you AP credit for college because that is not a language that they offer, but that is true of many other colleges/universities as well. USNA also does look at scores on the AP Latin exam if your DC takes it and they do count that as a positive -- but they will not give credit for a college-level course that they do not offer...

I read the OP as looking for information on whether colleges that require three or four years of a language to apply will accept Latin. I didn't think she was looking for AP credit. The service academies don't give AP credit per se. They give tests during the summer that allow "validation" of courses so the next level can be taken, but they don't give credits in the way that a civilian school does.

[Anonymous]

For all of the parents whose kids have taken Latin in HS...can you recommend any resources for my DS to look at over the summer? He will be starting Latin I as a 9th grader. I think he might have a bit of a steep learning curve in a few of his classes- and that seems like a good subject to invest a little time in before school starts.

TIA