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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DH and I are both American (going back generations) but I was a Spanish major in college and somehow convinced DH to raise our kids bilingual in Spanish and English. They only speak Spanish with me and English with DH. And they attend a Spanish language school which, upon graduation, will confer the equivalent of a high school diploma such that they could attend university in much of Latin American. I’ve never thought about this from a college applicant perspective (they will go to college in the states) but as my oldest is starting high school next year, I’m now curious. [/quote]

I don’t think being bilingual, by itself, helps much at T10 schools. My son had decent stats and was bilingual in an unusual language, and Yale and UChicago both rejected him.

The other U.S. schools he applied to were at the level of Catholic University or, say, Goucher, and he got into all of those with merit aid that that got the net price down to less than $45,000. So, it’s possible being bilingual helps with merit aid to some fine schools below the tippy top.

On the other hand, if your son speaks Spanish well enough to take classes in Spanish, maybe he should consider putting universities in Spain on his list:

https://www.study.eu/country/spain

One thing he could do is focus more on English-language bachelor’s programs but enjoy the benefits of being able to socialize in Spanish.

If he does this, he ought to talk to U.S. law, medical or other programs here that interest them and make sure they would be OK with applicants from his target schools.

Note that a lot of European schools have less handholding than U.S. schools. So, your son has to understand that the experience would be a lot different from UVa. And I’d strongly prefer universities that have international student dorms or otherwise try to give international students extra support.

Also, some EU universities might expect the students to manage their own education a lot more than a U.S. university would. There might be more classes where the final grade depended solely on one paper or one test.

But I think going to Spain could be a great option for your son if he’s a fairly high-stats self-starter without the spectacular activities now needed to get into places like, say, Northwestern or Vanderbilt, who doesn’t yearn for tailgate parties.

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