4 years of foreign language

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you are in a dual language immersion program and can take the AP class or test in 9th or 10th grade. Ok to stop, or do they still want more language?

My DC was in this situation- had two years of HS credit for French and two years of HS credit for another language in middle school, then took AP French in 9th grade. The HS did not offer anything beyond this level, and even with all that HS credit, guidance counselor still suggested that DC take another language after 9th grade. She said that colleges look for foreign language taken in HS, not MS.

Do you include a middle school transcript showing the 2 years of a HS level language with the college application? Understood that they still need to do 4 years of language in high school, but wondering if there’s any benefit in showing the additional language and if it’s even possible to report it?

[Anonymous]

My DS took 3 years of 1 language and 1 year of another in HS for what it’s worth. @UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you are in a dual language immersion program and can take the AP class or test in 9th or 10th grade. Ok to stop, or do they still want more language?

My DC was in this situation- had two years of HS credit for French and two years of HS credit for another language in middle school, then took AP French in 9th grade. The HS did not offer anything beyond this level, and even with all that HS credit, guidance counselor still suggested that DC take another language after 9th grade. She said that colleges look for foreign language taken in HS, not MS.

Do you include a middle school transcript showing the 2 years of a HS level language with the college application? Understood that they still need to do 4 years of language in high school, but wondering if there’s any benefit in showing the additional language and if it’s even possible to report it?

Typically no. And unless your child switched languages from 8th to 9th, they are going to know a kid coming into French 3 (or whatever) as a freshman had previous language classes anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you are in a dual language immersion program and can take the AP class or test in 9th or 10th grade. Ok to stop, or do they still want more language?

My DC was in this situation- had two years of HS credit for French and two years of HS credit for another language in middle school, then took AP French in 9th grade. The HS did not offer anything beyond this level, and even with all that HS credit, guidance counselor still suggested that DC take another language after 9th grade. She said that colleges look for foreign language taken in HS, not MS.

Do you include a middle school transcript showing the 2 years of a HS level language with the college application? Understood that they still need to do 4 years of language in high school, but wondering if there’s any benefit in showing the additional language and if it’s even possible to report it?

Typically no. And unless your child switched languages from 8th to 9th, they are going to know a kid coming into French 3 (or whatever) as a freshman had previous language classes anyway.

It was 2 years of high school level Latin in middle school and then in 9th grade they switched to Spanish but went into Spanish 2 and skipped Spanish 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you are in a dual language immersion program and can take the AP class or test in 9th or 10th grade. Ok to stop, or do they still want more language?

My DC was in this situation- had two years of HS credit for French and two years of HS credit for another language in middle school, then took AP French in 9th grade. The HS did not offer anything beyond this level, and even with all that HS credit, guidance counselor still suggested that DC take another language after 9th grade. She said that colleges look for foreign language taken in HS, not MS.

Do you include a middle school transcript showing the 2 years of a HS level language with the college application? Understood that they still need to do 4 years of language in high school, but wondering if there’s any benefit in showing the additional language and if it’s even possible to report it?

Our HS transcripts show middle school classes that were high school level (algebra/geometry/spanish 1&2). Those count towards the GPA as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS did not take language after 10th grade, which he took Spanish AP.

Into an Ivy, class of HS '22

Spanish AP is considered the fourth year of that language.

Really? In MCPS AP is the 6th year. My kid did Spanish 1 in 6th, is in Spanish 5 now in 10th, and will take AP next year. He'll be done with language then, UVA be damned.

[Anonymous]

DS took AP Spanish in 10th grade and no language after that. Accepted to UVA a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

DC (currently in 8th) has been studying French for several years (no family connection) and will be ready for AP French in 9th. Is it ok to stop there? The reason is that they want to explore art and music electives in HS. They are in Algebra 2 and want to pursue STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC just accepted into T10 ED with 3 years of HS language, 1 year middle school of a different language. DC is a STEM applicant and has two STEM electives senior year rather than AP language.

Similar. DC accepted to T10 with 3 years of HS language and no middle school language. Took a language not offered in MS, and HS canceled 4th year, so really couldn't. Took a cool science elective relevant to engineering focus (applied for engineering) instead. Sr yr schedule was Multi, Physics, engineering class +2 science electives. APLit was only humanities (oddly, kid loves humanities, it just didn't work with magnet scheduling). Explained why 3 years of lang and 3 years of SS in an update. Counselor also wrote that student was unable to take 4th language and SS. Kid has strong humanities-based ECs. I think college liked how the science electives tied in with major interests.

Except not similar at all:

- what happened in middle school is irrelevant

- HS didn’t offer a 4th language year

[Anonymous]

This comes up every year and I get needlessly aggravated. I was a triple major in college with two languages and my oldest child took 7 years of Spanish in MS and HS, so I’m not any language. But some kids just do not like it, and the truth is almost no one can speak Spanish decently just from taking HS Spanish in most public schools. It is just a waste of time for most kids.
My younger kid really wants to quit after Spanish 4 in 10th grade so they can double up on AP science and math classes (AP phy, AP chem, AP calc, AP stats). It seems dumb to make them instead take Spanish 5, when in reality I know they will get very little from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This comes up every year and I get needlessly aggravated. I was a triple major in college with two languages and my oldest child took 7 years of Spanish in MS and HS, so I’m not any language. But some kids just do not like it, and the truth is almost no one can speak Spanish decently just from taking HS Spanish in most public schools. It is just a waste of time for most kids.
My younger kid really wants to quit after Spanish 4 in 10th grade so they can double up on AP science and math classes (AP phy, AP chem, AP calc, AP stats). It seems dumb to make them instead take Spanish 5, when in reality I know they will get very little from it.

You need to read up more on why the top schools seek this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his school offers AP in high language he should take it. It is supposedly preferred over any elective, even if the elective is relevant to his prospective major. This is one area our college counselor won’t budge on, and she’s pretty flexible about most other things.

That would be an unnecessary requirement for a STEM major.

When I was at UVa in Engineering, every other E school student I knew had 4 years of a single foreign language -- even the kid from a poor county in SW VA.

It might not be a requirement at UVa Engineering, but it pretty clearly is preferred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many schools like 4 years of the same language. At some schools taking 4 years of the same language exempts you from taking a foreign language in college.

This is the best answer to the "4 years of foreign language question"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools like 4 years of the same language. At some schools taking 4 years of the same language exempts you from taking a foreign language in college.

This is the best answer to the "4 years of foreign language question"

But only if you take, and then meet the school’s bar, for a score on the AP exam. X language 4 isn’t going to get you out of college FL.

As with most things, ymmv when it comes to FL and there will always be outliers and exceptions to the norm. The best general advice is 4 years/get to the end of the language offering at your school. If a kid hits AP FL in 10th, that’s typically the terminal class.

My own kid quit after French 4 Jr year and decided to let the chips fall where they may (and took UVA off their list). He was planning to apply into arts/sciences and ultimately was WL all over the T30. I am not suggesting that this one class choice was the catalyst for the WLs, but I do know that he did not match the bulk of his peers when it came to rigor in this core subject area and at a large public plenty of his peers applied to the same schools.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone use credits at Les classes du samedi for HS language requirement? I year there is supposedly worth half a year at MCPS.