Reply to Selective Colleges and Foreign Language Requirements

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I review undergrad apps at my university.  I do not take applicants seriously that don't show a sincere enthusiasm for a foreign language.  It doesn't disqualify you, but I'd much rather admit a student who has excelled in a foreign language than one who merely checked off a box[/quote]

This seems like an odd take. Isn't the important thing to identify candidates that have sincere enthusiasm for any one of a myriad of subjects?  Why must they have sincere enthusiasm for a foreign language for you to find them interesting?  How about a student who is passionate about philosophy or physics or ancient history?  Are they less interesting to you than one who possesses a sincere enthusiasm for a foreign language?

I speak as a parent of a kid with genuine profound curiosity across several subjects, including math, philosophy, political science, and physics. Yet for some reason he finds the study of foreign language pretty dull. Still, he took 4 years of it, concluding in 10th grade. And he excelled in it. So I find your comment that you prefer a student who "excelled" in foreign language vs one who "merely checked off a box" interesting.  It wasn't one vs the other for him.  He did excel, but he absolutely checked a box because there's a multitude of other subjects he would rather pursue (and does now). And that didn't impede his college admissions in the least.  He was admitted to several highly selective colleges. While I'll never know why they chose him, I presume his deep intellectual curiosity was a key reason, rather than an arbitrary belief that intellectual curiosity must be in a foreign language to be deemed a qualified candidate.

I should be clear that I'm an advocate for the study of foreign languages.  My point is only that we are all wired differently and I think it would be an odd requirement that individuals must have a "sincere enthusiasm" for a foreign language to be admissable. That's quite different than a solid exposure and some mastery of a foreign language, which strikes me as a more logical requirement. 
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Also, how is taking levels 1-4 in 6th-9th or 7th-10th "checking a box" but taking the exact same levels in 9th-12th excelling? Since my son is starting in 6th, I'll probably make him take 5 years, just in case, but if I was doing interviews for a "selective college" and they had this kind of rule in place, I'd try to lobby against it or at least advocate for good candidates regardless or when they finish level 4 or whatever. Because it's a stupid rule (if it's even an actual rule.)[/quote]

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