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<p>My son’s GF is a Deaf Ed major…A’s in HS sign language; A’s in Sign I and Sign II in college. Now she and 7 others (in a class of about 10) are failing Sign III. So I assume that at some point it becomes hard. (I was fluent for about 6 weeks about 30 years ago but I’ve lost it.)</p>
<p>I agree that different Us & majors have different requirements. Both my kids are at the same U–S as an EE had NO foreign language requirement. S had 3 years of mandarin & dropped after his junior year. He said it was harder than all the APs he ever had (senior year, he had all APs + marching band). D only had a year of mandarin. She had a 2 year language requirement . She fulfilled that by starting a new language (German), which she basically taught herself & then took two 6-week summer school courses in & then went on to successfully take a semester of German at her private U to finish the requirement.</p>
<p>I don’t feel that either kid was jeopardized by not having 4 years of FL, but they weren’t trying for ivies or schools that required 4 years of FL. Might have a chat with the HS GC or the adcoms at the schools kiddo is most interested in attending for more info.</p>
<p>Yes, agreed that certain majors (engineering, for example) are exempt from the language requirement at most colleges. But an awful lot of majors do require it 
Sad face for our family, as we are all AWFUL at foreign languages. My poor kids did not have a chance in the genetic lottery on that score. I don’t think the OP mentioned her S’s area of interest for college. But if he is certain to be in a major that does not require it, then he probably should skip it.</p>
<p>Another thought… if a college does not offer a language (if he goes to a college that does not offer Latin, for example), will they allow it to be used to place out of their language requirement? I do not know, but it occurs to me that it would also be a question worth asking. It may vary from school to school.</p>
<p>As I’ve stated in similar threads - my daughter hates foreign languages so she took 3 years of French (1 middle school, 2 high school, NYS Regents) and dropped it. Had no effect on her acceptance to Yale or Dartmouth. She’s at Northwestern now and is receiving a BS instead of a BA because with a BS she doesn’t have a foreign language requirement. Let your kid enjoy, life will go on and he will get into great schools with “only” 3 years of Latin.</p>
<p>S1 only took three years of Latin. Made A’s but teacher was kinda wacko and he didn’t want to spend another yr. in her class. Applied to big state u’s. Accepted to all with merit aid. His BS degree did not require FL.<br>
S2 (super horrible at FL) only did two years of h.s. Spanish…we won’t count the first go 'round with Span. 2 that he failed…he applied to different big state u’s than his brother and was accepted. He is also doing a BS degree that does not require further language credits.</p>
<p>in high school didn’t hurt my older son. He’s a junior at Brown University. My younger son is in the midst of applying now- also having taken 3 years of Spanish starting in 10th grade (2 years at the Honors level). We’ll see how he ends up doing. Waiting on ED1 response.</p>
<p>In our school Latin 4 is actually the year the teacher enjoys teaching the most. She doesn’t have to prep them for the NYS Regents test (Latin 3) or the AP. The students are finally able to read real texts. My younger son considered stopping with Latin 3. Like your son he did Latin 1 in middle school, but the counselor felt it was better to hedge his bets at schools that prefer to see more language. He never got better than a B in Latin, and since he ended up with a B- (a gift) in Latin 4, it certainly didn’t help his GPA. At least Latin 4 is an honors course, so I think it was weighted as a B+. In any event he was aiming at schools like Tufts and U Chicago (both of which accepted him), so in his case I think he made the right decision - or at least didn’t make the wrong one - in terms of language. </p>
<p>I do think that going back to Latin after a year off might be difficult. My son could not have done it.</p>
<p>Just to add this: knowing another language is great for engineers, even if it is not required. I can give examples of engineers who got or didn’t get jobs because of the languages that they knew or didn’t know.</p>
<p>The biggest fight we had with S1 in high school was about whether or not he should take German 4. We won the battle (it was his worst grade in HS, an 85). He was admitted to a very selective LAC where he placed out of the language requirement because and only because he had taken German 4. S1 hasn’t exactly thanked us but he certainly was happy that he didn’t have to take a foreign language in college (there is more room for math and philosophy).</p>
<p>S1 took 3 years of Spanish. The HS counselors strongly recommended 4 years but he was pretty adamant about not taking it (4th year would have been AP Spanish). As stated in previous threads he is a freshman now majoring in engineering and is exempt from the school’s foreign language requirement. S2 is a sophomore in HS and is struggling with Spanish 1 (he’s got about a week to bring up his current D to a C-). Sigh it’s going to be a long couple of years…</p>
<p>So it looks like the best thing is to have him pick from his heart. Based on these posts it doesn’t look like it would be a deal killer for him. I am going to have him consider, if he does decide to go ahead with it next year, that he may be able to place out of it for college… although don’t know if he would care because he does want to take Greek. That is something I wouldn’t have even thought about… so thanks so much you guys!!!</p>
<p>I tend to agree with amtc… let them do what they enjoy and to be true themselves and not worry about what the colleges want to see, because you never know what they will be looking for anyway. I think presenting your true self to colleges is always the best bet. Now he just has to convince his GC… </p>
<p>Mathmom… That is my main concern, skipping this year. If he was a great latin student I wouldn’t be worried, but he isn’t, and I’m afraid he wouldn’t even be able to get a B-… and no weighted grades here unless it is AP, and it is not, it’s regular latin 4. He failed the latin 2 final in 9th and had to spend his summer in tutoring and retake it to move on to latin 3… so you can see my hesitation. He did do okay in latin 3… but no A’s. It is just a subject that takes a lot of attention, and his attention is on other subjects that he enjoys more.</p>
<p>Our kids really make good choices that they can live with–we just have to let them do so and support them. There really is a lot of variability even among Us, as has been posted.</p>
<p>When my S (who stopped Mandarin after 3 years) went to Taiwan, he was pleasantly surprised that he could understand what was said, even though he wasn’t all that comfortable speaking. Perhaps some day, he’ll try to take the language up again, but at the time, he had been struggling & they were dropping the “regular” Mandarin & he’d have to step up to either honors or AP. He opted to pour more energy into what he loved–math, physics & computers, which is what has served him well in EE.</p>
<p>American Sign Language is in no way the “easiest language to learn”- the grammar is very, very different from grammar in English or other spoken languages. I wish people would stop perpetuating this uninformed myth!</p>
<p>My S1 did two years of HS Spanish in MS and one in HS. Decided to switch to the newspaper class because 1) he wanted more writing experience than he was getting in English class and 2) the math grad schools want French, German or Russian, so he was going to have to start a new language anyway. His GC was not crazy about the idea, but it turned out to be one of the best moves he made. Got to use his programming and editing skills, became a full-on news junkie, came out of his shell, and broadened his horizons. He also discovered that apparently journalism is an unusual EC for a math/CS major, because every interviewer asked him about it!</p>
<p>Suspect only three years <em>might</em> have been a little red flag at Ivies where he applied, but the techie schools, our flagship and UChicago did not care.</p>
<p>If your S has identified some other area of study that he wants to pursue, let him chase it. Who knows what new worlds that class may open for him! There are plenty of kids who start a new language in college, so if he decides to give up Latin, it’s not the end of the world. </p>
<p>S2 decided to switch to a less-intense math track after 9th grade because he spent so much time trying to keep his head above water that other grades suffered. It was a good decision on his part and probably kept him from hating the subject forever. Now he’s talking about taking more Econ classes in college, which means he’ll need more math, but that concept isn’t as intimidating as it used to be.</p>
<p>My son had trouble with all languages (including English). All the schools he was looking at (all engineering schools) recommended 3, but only required 2 years. So when he got to the end of his second year of French, he was done. He ended up taking an extra science class, so it was probably to his advantage.</p>
<p>My daughter (also currently an engineering major in college) took the three years with the idea that she might get some credit for it in college. Her college will give her credit, but only if she continues with it for an additional two semesters in college.</p>
<p>So, look at you potential colleges and their majors to see the benefits (or lack thereof) of the additional years of language in HS.</p>
<p>5boys, I doubt that your son’s admissions decisions will hinge on his foreign language years. I think that for the LACs the decision really will be more holistic. However, you should check the common data sets for the schools he’s interested in and see what the requirements / recommendations are for those schools. I think that since he has Latin 3 on his transcript, he should be okay. If it was Latin 2, that would be more problematic.</p>
<p>Ok, so I have a slightly different question. D is currently taking Spanish 4 as a junior. She is doing a trip (w/ homestay) to South America for a month this summer. She is contemplating not taking AP Spanish next year in order to fit in a required Philosophy/Religion course. Is Spanish 4 considered 4 years if she did year 1 in MS? Does the travel help show her committment to language? Would a strong Spanish SAT II help as well? Anyone have any experience with this?</p>
<p>Would a strong Spanish SAT II help as well?
YES. At some schools it will also satisfy the FL requirement.
(my own kid was accepted to Stanford with 3 years of FL (ending with Level4), he took SAT 2 for the FL exemption after he was accepted)</p>
<p>similar situation to 1012mom - D is a junior taking Spanish 4 (Spanish 1 in MS) and she does not want to take Spanish 5. the teacher is difficult, hard to please, and plays favorites - D is not one! D is also doing an independent study in Hebrew - if she continues next year she’ll have 3 years of Hebrew on her transcript as well. I don’t know if 3 years of HS Spanish plus 3 years of Hebrew is the equivalent of 4 years of the same language in HS, in the eyes of an adcom…?</p>
<p>prj, I think it’s fine. Certainly shows she didn’t run from new languages!</p>