Dropping language 12th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most competitive colleges may not like dropping the language...this has been said many times in sessions over the past few years.

Your DC has to decide whether that matters to them or not - they can always take the - "if they don't like me for me, then I'll go elsewhere" stance on the front end as long as they can live with the consequences/second thoughts on the back end.

For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough. It's generally more acceptable to cut out of language by senior year when the student has no option to continue their language that year because of running out of courses.

I posted above. You would be wrong. My kid was accepted at Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, UVA, Colby and Hamilton without Spanish 7 senior year because they took a second science.

Really awesome choices! Congrats to your child. If they are a first year, best wishes for a great year.

No snark or disrespect intended here (at all), but were there rejections? What were they?

You child's acceptances are an impressively competitive list (and a helpful one too). But I don't see the "pie in the sky" HYPSM, Top 10, Williams/Amherst/Pomona schools here....so I'm curious if your child applied to any of those. These "lottery" schools are what I was referring to above as "most competitive". (But not everyone wants to apply to one of those - so maybe your child didn't.)

Plenty of misinformation - Bowdoin is considered “most competitive” and has the exact same admissions rate (9%) as Williams (where my kid didn’t apply because it was too remote).

I suggest the OP call one of the colleges their kid is interested in. We were consistently told that with that many years of foreign language and substituting another very rigorous course, the lack of foreign language senior year was a non-issue. We found it to be true.

NP Not sure why you are so curt with PP who is complimenting your kid! Bowdoin is a top admit, but Williams is clearly more competitive-- higher gpa/scores of applicants and slightly lower rate overall. Also, if these LAC acceptances were for a boy, there might be more leeway as more girls typically apply to LACs.

😂😂 Because that’s not a compliment and I don’t need a stranger on a board to tell me that Bowdoin is a top admit - especially not a person who is repeating some sort of generalized advice. My kid didn’t apply to Williams (thought it was too remote) so I really can’t say whether they would or wouldn’t get in. We were happy with the results. But the advice being given here is inaccurate and I really recommend the OP talk to the specific schools because when we asked, we were told it was fine. This includes colleges where they recommend and even report four years of foreign language (like Wesleyan). They will often say that if a student has reached AP or IB level (which is what Spanish 6 is), the student is fine as long as they replace with a challenging class. (Fwiw, my kid did ask at Amherst and received the same reply - that senior classes were fine without foreign language) but never ended up applying to Amherst. They really fell in love with both Bowdoin and Wes when we visited.)

https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html

PP here. Last I checked "impressive and competitive " were compliments.

Look, I agree your experience is valuable, but it's not universal, and I thought a PP had sad they contacted the AO. So, not sure why you feel the need to be so defensive.

Mine was admitted to Wes too, but she didn't love it. It did give her awesome FA, though (for those considering Wes).

I am that PP and I was (am) absolutely complimenting this kid's list of admits and am genuinely happy for them.

And thanks to the parent of that kid for later adding context that their child hadn't applied to other school I listed and that Tufts was not an acceptance.

Still not happy with the attacks or defensiveness...but moving on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most competitive colleges may not like dropping the language...this has been said many times in sessions over the past few years.

Your DC has to decide whether that matters to them or not - they can always take the - "if they don't like me for me, then I'll go elsewhere" stance on the front end as long as they can live with the consequences/second thoughts on the back end.

For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough. It's generally more acceptable to cut out of language by senior year when the student has no option to continue their language that year because of running out of courses.

I posted above. You would be wrong. My kid was accepted at Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, UVA, Colby and Hamilton without Spanish 7 senior year because they took a second science.

Really awesome choices! Congrats to your child. If they are a first year, best wishes for a great year.

No snark or disrespect intended here (at all), but were there rejections? What were they?

You child's acceptances are an impressively competitive list (and a helpful one too). But I don't see the "pie in the sky" HYPSM, Top 10, Williams/Amherst/Pomona schools here....so I'm curious if your child applied to any of those. These "lottery" schools are what I was referring to above as "most competitive". (But not everyone wants to apply to one of those - so maybe your child didn't.)

Plenty of misinformation - Bowdoin is considered “most competitive” and has the exact same admissions rate (9%) as Williams (where my kid didn’t apply because it was too remote).

I suggest the OP call one of the colleges their kid is interested in. We were consistently told that with that many years of foreign language and substituting another very rigorous course, the lack of foreign language senior year was a non-issue. We found it to be true.

NP Not sure why you are so curt with PP who is complimenting your kid! Bowdoin is a top admit, but Williams is clearly more competitive-- higher gpa/scores of applicants and slightly lower rate overall. Also, if these LAC acceptances were for a boy, there might be more leeway as more girls typically apply to LACs.

Also, Bowdoin has two ED rounds and Williams has one, so even their admissions rate is a bit apples and oranges.

But in the end, it doesn't matter - nobody was dissing Bowdon to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most competitive colleges may not like dropping the language...this has been said many times in sessions over the past few years.

Your DC has to decide whether that matters to them or not - they can always take the - "if they don't like me for me, then I'll go elsewhere" stance on the front end as long as they can live with the consequences/second thoughts on the back end.

For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough. It's generally more acceptable to cut out of language by senior year when the student has no option to continue their language that year because of running out of courses.

I posted above. You would be wrong. My kid was accepted at Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, UVA, Colby and Hamilton without Spanish 7 senior year because they took a second science.

Really awesome choices! Congrats to your child. If they are a first year, best wishes for a great year.

No snark or disrespect intended here (at all), but were there rejections? What were they?

You child's acceptances are an impressively competitive list (and a helpful one too). But I don't see the "pie in the sky" HYPSM, Top 10, Williams/Amherst/Pomona schools here....so I'm curious if your child applied to any of those. These "lottery" schools are what I was referring to above as "most competitive". (But not everyone wants to apply to one of those - so maybe your child didn't.)

Plenty of misinformation - Bowdoin is considered “most competitive” and has the exact same admissions rate (9%) as Williams (where my kid didn’t apply because it was too remote).

I suggest the OP call one of the colleges their kid is interested in. We were consistently told that with that many years of foreign language and substituting another very rigorous course, the lack of foreign language senior year was a non-issue. We found it to be true.

NP Not sure why you are so curt with PP who is complimenting your kid! Bowdoin is a top admit, but Williams is clearly more competitive-- higher gpa/scores of applicants and slightly lower rate overall. Also, if these LAC acceptances were for a boy, there might be more leeway as more girls typically apply to LACs.

😂😂 Because that’s not a compliment and I don’t need a stranger on a board to tell me that Bowdoin is a top admit - especially not a person who is repeating some sort of generalized advice. My kid didn’t apply to Williams (thought it was too remote) so I really can’t say whether they would or wouldn’t get in. We were happy with the results. But the advice being given here is inaccurate and I really recommend the OP talk to the specific schools because when we asked, we were told it was fine. This includes colleges where they recommend and even report four years of foreign language (like Wesleyan). They will often say that if a student has reached AP or IB level (which is what Spanish 6 is), the student is fine as long as they replace with a challenging class. (Fwiw, my kid did ask at Amherst and received the same reply - that senior classes were fine without foreign language) but never ended up applying to Amherst. They really fell in love with both Bowdoin and Wes when we visited.)

https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html

No "inaccurate advice" was given. What you are attacking is that I shared what COLLEGE ADMISSIONS STAFF explicitly stated at the most competitive schools over the past year (it wasn't all of them, but it was many - and it includes schools outside of the very most competitive).

It's not all or nothing. It's not your experience vs anyone else's. Clearly every child is different and every school is different. In fact, different applicants at the same school can be treated quite differently. This is all good in my book. They will be looking at MANY things in addition to the language senior year. It should be that way. We don't all have the same kid and we will all have our own life experiences.

I think the OP (and any other rational person) can take the various stories experienced by different people on this board to use them as context in their decision. They will recognize which ones resonate with their own experience, which ones do not. There is no "exact" answer for this question and there is no need for you to attack what someone shared as their experience (- and it was not "advice").

That’s right - it’s not all or nothing. I actually think you are being defensive after posting advice like this (not experience - advice) which is contradicted by the experience of several posters. Again my advice is to check with the schools because I can’t speak to every single college out there but I also can’t say I’m certain they mean one thing when my kid and others had different experiences.

“For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough.”

[Anonymous]

I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most competitive colleges may not like dropping the language...this has been said many times in sessions over the past few years.

Your DC has to decide whether that matters to them or not - they can always take the - "if they don't like me for me, then I'll go elsewhere" stance on the front end as long as they can live with the consequences/second thoughts on the back end.

For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough. It's generally more acceptable to cut out of language by senior year when the student has no option to continue their language that year because of running out of courses.

I posted above. You would be wrong. My kid was accepted at Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, UVA, Colby and Hamilton without Spanish 7 senior year because they took a second science.

Really awesome choices! Congrats to your child. If they are a first year, best wishes for a great year.

No snark or disrespect intended here (at all), but were there rejections? What were they?

You child's acceptances are an impressively competitive list (and a helpful one too). But I don't see the "pie in the sky" HYPSM, Top 10, Williams/Amherst/Pomona schools here....so I'm curious if your child applied to any of those. These "lottery" schools are what I was referring to above as "most competitive". (But not everyone wants to apply to one of those - so maybe your child didn't.)

Plenty of misinformation - Bowdoin is considered “most competitive” and has the exact same admissions rate (9%) as Williams (where my kid didn’t apply because it was too remote).

I suggest the OP call one of the colleges their kid is interested in. We were consistently told that with that many years of foreign language and substituting another very rigorous course, the lack of foreign language senior year was a non-issue. We found it to be true.

NP Not sure why you are so curt with PP who is complimenting your kid! Bowdoin is a top admit, but Williams is clearly more competitive-- higher gpa/scores of applicants and slightly lower rate overall. Also, if these LAC acceptances were for a boy, there might be more leeway as more girls typically apply to LACs.

😂😂 Because that’s not a compliment and I don’t need a stranger on a board to tell me that Bowdoin is a top admit - especially not a person who is repeating some sort of generalized advice. My kid didn’t apply to Williams (thought it was too remote) so I really can’t say whether they would or wouldn’t get in. We were happy with the results. But the advice being given here is inaccurate and I really recommend the OP talk to the specific schools because when we asked, we were told it was fine. This includes colleges where they recommend and even report four years of foreign language (like Wesleyan). They will often say that if a student has reached AP or IB level (which is what Spanish 6 is), the student is fine as long as they replace with a challenging class. (Fwiw, my kid did ask at Amherst and received the same reply - that senior classes were fine without foreign language) but never ended up applying to Amherst. They really fell in love with both Bowdoin and Wes when we visited.)

https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html

No "inaccurate advice" was given. What you are attacking is that I shared what COLLEGE ADMISSIONS STAFF explicitly stated at the most competitive schools over the past year (it wasn't all of them, but it was many - and it includes schools outside of the very most competitive).

It's not all or nothing. It's not your experience vs anyone else's. Clearly every child is different and every school is different. In fact, different applicants at the same school can be treated quite differently. This is all good in my book. They will be looking at MANY things in addition to the language senior year. It should be that way. We don't all have the same kid and we will all have our own life experiences.

I think the OP (and any other rational person) can take the various stories experienced by different people on this board to use them as context in their decision. They will recognize which ones resonate with their own experience, which ones do not. There is no "exact" answer for this question and there is no need for you to attack what someone shared as their experience (- and it was not "advice").

That’s right - it’s not all or nothing. I actually think you are being defensive after posting advice like this (not experience - advice) which is contradicted by the experience of several posters. Again my advice is to check with the schools because I can’t speak to every single college out there but I also can’t say I’m certain they mean one thing when my kid and others had different experiences.

“For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough.”

Sorry - they SAID - when we say 4 years of language, we mean 4 courses, not up to level 4, not up to AP but 4 courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

There's so much out there that is artificial - you just need to put it into context for your kid and their college desires and their mental health.

We all have to make choices in life that could have consequences. We all have to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Life is uncertain and some decisions are high stakes and some are less so. This seems like a good, low stakes start to making those sorts of choices for OP's kid.

Honestly, will it really matter for the OP's child in the long run whether choosing AP Anthro keeps them out of school X? I doubt it. But it's perfectly reasonable for OP (and/or OP's kid) to want to collect some information on others' experiences as anecdotes to help them decide.

I also think it's perfectly acceptable (and potentially preferable) to let them follow the Anthropology passion. Who knows, maybe they can write something in their applications about the hard choice to give up language to make room for this coveted course.

PP - It really sucks that your son suffered through that extra language. I hope they are happy at their school. I'm sure being in the Whitman pressure cooker doesn't help.

As a side note - I think this scenario of taking classes you don't like applies equally for kids who don't love science or math. I personally like the well rounded approach for HS and like the idea of kids needing to take all five core subjects each year. The part that makes it suck is that there's an expectation of perfection in grades, which leads these young kids to already shying away from something they aren't great at or don't love before they are even 18.


And for full disclosure - I'm the one who is passing on the "inaccurate" information about what we hear from many of the HYPSM/top 10/Williams/Amherst/Pomona admissions staff on the "4 years of foreign language" question. I have no agenda here and am not giving advice on whether to take 4 years. Just passing on what we were told.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most competitive colleges may not like dropping the language...this has been said many times in sessions over the past few years.

Your DC has to decide whether that matters to them or not - they can always take the - "if they don't like me for me, then I'll go elsewhere" stance on the front end as long as they can live with the consequences/second thoughts on the back end.

For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough. It's generally more acceptable to cut out of language by senior year when the student has no option to continue their language that year because of running out of courses.

I posted above. You would be wrong. My kid was accepted at Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, UVA, Colby and Hamilton without Spanish 7 senior year because they took a second science.

Really awesome choices! Congrats to your child. If they are a first year, best wishes for a great year.

No snark or disrespect intended here (at all), but were there rejections? What were they?

You child's acceptances are an impressively competitive list (and a helpful one too). But I don't see the "pie in the sky" HYPSM, Top 10, Williams/Amherst/Pomona schools here....so I'm curious if your child applied to any of those. These "lottery" schools are what I was referring to above as "most competitive". (But not everyone wants to apply to one of those - so maybe your child didn't.)

Plenty of misinformation - Bowdoin is considered “most competitive” and has the exact same admissions rate (9%) as Williams (where my kid didn’t apply because it was too remote).

I suggest the OP call one of the colleges their kid is interested in. We were consistently told that with that many years of foreign language and substituting another very rigorous course, the lack of foreign language senior year was a non-issue. We found it to be true.

NP Not sure why you are so curt with PP who is complimenting your kid! Bowdoin is a top admit, but Williams is clearly more competitive-- higher gpa/scores of applicants and slightly lower rate overall. Also, if these LAC acceptances were for a boy, there might be more leeway as more girls typically apply to LACs.

😂😂 Because that’s not a compliment and I don’t need a stranger on a board to tell me that Bowdoin is a top admit - especially not a person who is repeating some sort of generalized advice. My kid didn’t apply to Williams (thought it was too remote) so I really can’t say whether they would or wouldn’t get in. We were happy with the results. But the advice being given here is inaccurate and I really recommend the OP talk to the specific schools because when we asked, we were told it was fine. This includes colleges where they recommend and even report four years of foreign language (like Wesleyan). They will often say that if a student has reached AP or IB level (which is what Spanish 6 is), the student is fine as long as they replace with a challenging class. (Fwiw, my kid did ask at Amherst and received the same reply - that senior classes were fine without foreign language) but never ended up applying to Amherst. They really fell in love with both Bowdoin and Wes when we visited.)

https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html

No "inaccurate advice" was given. What you are attacking is that I shared what COLLEGE ADMISSIONS STAFF explicitly stated at the most competitive schools over the past year (it wasn't all of them, but it was many - and it includes schools outside of the very most competitive).

It's not all or nothing. It's not your experience vs anyone else's. Clearly every child is different and every school is different. In fact, different applicants at the same school can be treated quite differently. This is all good in my book. They will be looking at MANY things in addition to the language senior year. It should be that way. We don't all have the same kid and we will all have our own life experiences.

I think the OP (and any other rational person) can take the various stories experienced by different people on this board to use them as context in their decision. They will recognize which ones resonate with their own experience, which ones do not. There is no "exact" answer for this question and there is no need for you to attack what someone shared as their experience (- and it was not "advice").

That’s right - it’s not all or nothing. I actually think you are being defensive after posting advice like this (not experience - advice) which is contradicted by the experience of several posters. Again my advice is to check with the schools because I can’t speak to every single college out there but I also can’t say I’m certain they mean one thing when my kid and others had different experiences.

“For schools that want 4 years of language - I'm certain they mean 4 courses in HS....not that getting to level 4 is enough.”

NP: why do you have to try to manufacture some combative situation with the other PP? I don’t get the tude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

Why would you make your child miserable like that. I encouraged my kid to take AP Spanish Lit senior year but my kid really did not want to take it so we said fine, drop it if it will make you miserable. Kid still got into top ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

Why would you make your child miserable like that. I encouraged my kid to take AP Spanish Lit senior year but my kid really did not want to take it so we said fine, drop it if it will make you miserable. Kid still got into top ivy.

That is great for your son, but you missed the point of most of this thread. Many of our kids worked hard and are aiming for ivies, top slacs and the advice we are given - by other parents, hs guidance counselors, provate college counselors, and most importantly, college admissions reps, is that too colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken while in HS. We specifically noted to all giving by us advice that son has gone thru AP world language and the responses we got were that if there is a further rigorous course offered, colleges will want him to take it instead of dropping the language. As I said, we are handling world languages differently for our daughter, intentionally holding her “back” which seems counter intuitive to what top colleges should be looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

Why would you make your child miserable like that. I encouraged my kid to take AP Spanish Lit senior year but my kid really did not want to take it so we said fine, drop it if it will make you miserable. Kid still got into top ivy.

That is great for your son, but you missed the point of most of this thread. Many of our kids worked hard and are aiming for ivies, top slacs and the advice we are given - by other parents, hs guidance counselors, provate college counselors, and most importantly, college admissions reps, is that too colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken while in HS. We specifically noted to all giving by us advice that son has gone thru AP world language and the responses we got were that if there is a further rigorous course offered, colleges will want him to take it instead of dropping the language. As I said, we are handling world languages differently for our daughter, intentionally holding her “back” which seems counter intuitive to what top colleges should be looking for.

Not the PP you are replying to….but maybe your kid wouldn’t have gotten into the Ivy either way. This is not meant as an insult, it’s just that you can’t know the counterfactual and we all know there are far more qualified applicants than spots for the tip top schools. Who knows what the special sauce was for each acceptance or what caused a school to pass on all those amazing kids in the no pile. For this same reason, you also can’t compare your kid to any of the PPs whose kids dropped language but got into an Ivy . None of us really know what it was that tipped the scale. It’s all speculation.

The best you can do is keep your kid mentally healthy in this process. So I suspect PP is questioning whether it’s worth supporting a kid to make a miserable choice purely for the Ivy goal.

I do hope your child is happy where they landed and that they are thriving. I’m sure they will end up doing great. And, for both of your sakes ( but child’s especially), I hope you are not disappointed in where they landed ( it’s hard to tell if disappointment is lurking behind your frustration with the system).

[Anonymous]

My son is happily situated at a great college, you are right I was railing at the artifical “musts” - “must” take world language through grade 12 (even if the student took world language AP in 11th grade), “must” take APs in all 5 core subjects (even if the student is in multivariable calculus, he still needs to take AP english classes), “must” get all As in classes (even if that means foregoing stretch in an area of interest but not natural strength). It all feels counterintuitive to the “soft” factors (curiosity, new challenges) that colleges say they themselves encourage in students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

Why would you make your child miserable like that. I encouraged my kid to take AP Spanish Lit senior year but my kid really did not want to take it so we said fine, drop it if it will make you miserable. Kid still got into top ivy.

That is great for your son, but you missed the point of most of this thread. Many of our kids worked hard and are aiming for ivies, top slacs and the advice we are given - by other parents, hs guidance counselors, provate college counselors, and most importantly, college admissions reps, is that too colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken while in HS. We specifically noted to all giving by us advice that son has gone thru AP world language and the responses we got were that if there is a further rigorous course offered, colleges will want him to take it instead of dropping the language. As I said, we are handling world languages differently for our daughter, intentionally holding her “back” which seems counter intuitive to what top colleges should be looking for.

This. It’s very simple. The Ivies, top SLACs and uva want to see that you have taken the most rigorous courses offered by the high school on every level and done well in those courses. Remember most of those, like UVA, have an additional two years of foreign language in Arts and Sciences that they expect to see fulfilled because these institutions think they are educating citizens of the world not just Americans who can’t master even a second language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of these artifical requirements so irritating. So Williams, UVA, etc would prefer a kid take level 1-4 of Spanish in HS than stop at level 4 of Spanish sophmore year. Because that is often what this amounts to at my kids’ HS (Whitman)- my older was in AP Spanish Lang as a junior and really disliked it and struggled but because we followed the advice that “colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken IN high school, his gpa was affected and he suffered through AP Spanish Lit as a senior which was a disaster. With my my younger we wised up and she started level 1 of Spanish in 8th grade, so she will finish off HS in spanish 5. They will probably be eligible at the same colleges, maybe my daughter even beyyer because she still has a 4.0 thanks to the easier pathway.

Why would you make your child miserable like that. I encouraged my kid to take AP Spanish Lit senior year but my kid really did not want to take it so we said fine, drop it if it will make you miserable. Kid still got into top ivy.

That is great for your son, but you missed the point of most of this thread. Many of our kids worked hard and are aiming for ivies, top slacs and the advice we are given - by other parents, hs guidance counselors, provate college counselors, and most importantly, college admissions reps, is that too colleges want to see 4 years of FL taken while in HS. We specifically noted to all giving by us advice that son has gone thru AP world language and the responses we got were that if there is a further rigorous course offered, colleges will want him to take it instead of dropping the language. As I said, we are handling world languages differently for our daughter, intentionally holding her “back” which seems counter intuitive to what top colleges should be looking for.

This. It’s very simple. The Ivies, top SLACs and uva want to see that you have taken the most rigorous courses offered by the high school on every level and done well in those courses. Remember most of those, like UVA, have an additional two years of foreign language in Arts and Sciences that they expect to see fulfilled because these institutions think they are educating citizens of the world not just Americans who can’t master even a second language.

And yet there are several examples here where people got into top SLACS, Stanford and UVA without a senior foreign language course past AP. Do that with it what you may but following all the rules doesn’t get a kid in and breaking them doesn’t seem to keep them out.

[Anonymous]

This very topic was a cause for some angst with my high achieving D who graduated from TJ. Against my advice, she chose not to take a 4th year of foreign language her senior year. She took an additional AP science class in its place. In the end, all turned out well for her. She enjoyed her senior year more and when she applied to a number of selective colleges that recommended 4 years in HS of a single foreign language, she got into several. She is now a very happy camper at Duke and has reminded me on several occasions that her decision to skip a 4th year of foreign language was absolutely the right one for her.

[Anonymous]

Op in the US languages are not deemed as important as they are in the rest of the world. Where does your kid want to study? take it from there.