4th year of a language or social studies during senior year

My daughter cannot fit both into her senior year schedule. Any thoughts on what college admissions would prefer to see?
Thanks!

What are the other classes of her senior year schedule? There is an opportunity cost for every choice, and the cost of leaving out either a 4th year SS or 4th year FL is rather high. It would be good to know why either of these options are necessary.

@damon30 Thank you for the response! It’s a little bit of a tricky situation. She goes to a Charter School for the arts and has some requirements other schools may not have. She also has to take her math class off campus because she is finishing Calc1 this year and her school does not offer any higher math classes. So that takes her out of her high school in the afternoons. Her name was drawn in a lottery to take a free class at Mt. Holyoke, so she will probably be taking Calc II there. That leaves her 5 classes at school she can take. Planning on Physics, English and social studies. Then per requirements of the school she has to take a full year performing arts class (jazz ensemble) and a full year of another arts class. So, that’s the long and the short of it. She will complete French 4 this year because she started in 8th grade. The option for next year is more of a French culture class. So my thinking is that social studies will probably be better since she has technically done 4 years of French, but I’m not sure exactly what schools would find more compelling.

I think social studies for sure.
If she can do something, even online, with French to make sure her skills stay sharp, it might be good just in case she needs to take more French in college. Not using the language could cause a bit of backslide there. Even just watching some tv in French could be helpful for that.

Agree, social studies- because she’s completed through French 4. (It’s not always the fact of starting in 8th, but that she’ll have 3 years of foreign lang in high school, then a schedule conflict.) It helps to make sure she has the core SS classes, if possible, and with rigor, (rather than some of the elective sorts.)

I agree - since she has taken French through level 4 she should take SS.

You may want to ask the guidance counselor to mention in his/her college letter of recommendation that schedule conflicts precluded your D from continuing with French senior year.

I’m going to take a somewhat contrarian PoV and say the colleges will not care, so it really comes down to what your daughter would prefer and/or what best aligns with college plans/career goals.

While there is a very small handful of schools that unrealistically request 4 years of every core subject, even those schools recognize that these “suggestions” are not possible to fulfill in high schools, like hers, that have extensive requirements outside these core. So assuming that the HS requirements are being met (many have a gov and/or econ requirement that is traditionally taken by seniors), it’s really her choice, IMO.

Thank you all for your responses! Lots of good suggestions. I guess since there will only be one French class she could take, it might conflict with another class she needs. It’s a small school so lots of classes are only offered at one specific time. I would like her to keep up with the French even if that’s not what she takes next year as most of the schools she is looking at require a semester or 2 of a language. And we are hoping to get to France for a trip after she graduates! Thanks for all the helpful info!

That is a good idea, and it today’s online world it is easier than its ever been for the independent language learner. She can watch movies in French, read a French newspaper, buy some French books. Another thing I’ve heard people find useful is to have informal chats with a foreign speaker using a service such as italki. And there are websites such as https://forum.language-learners.org/ for language learners where you can ask for further suggestions.

What is she interested in? Do you think she will get a better grade in one vs the other? I agree with skieurope that the colleges likely will not care exactly what she takes. I told my son to take what he was interested in. Only our story but he took 2 years of Spanish in HS (got through level 4) but was accepted to a great college. He is now taking level 3 college Spanish for the first time since sophomore year in HS and getting an A. Obviously this wouldn’t work for everyone but these kids retain so much information. Good Luck

She’s reached level 4 so social science would be more important.

Thanks everyone! She’s interested in physics/astronomy so neither are crucial. Her school offers some interesting SS courses such as women in history or the holocaust, so I think she’s going to go with that, though she is sad about not taking French. We will encourage her to keep up her skills. At her school French would be the easy A for her, where she will have to work a whole lot harder in SS with papers, research, etc… I appreciate everyone’s feedback. It has been really helpful and given us some good ideas about how to proceed with everything. It also is good to know that it’s not going to make or break her applications!
They also offer French lunches once a week where the Honors students go speak to each other in French at lunchtime- I’m sure the teacher would let her join in.

Could she take a French course at the college where she’s dual enrolled for Math?

I actually looked at that but the times don’t coordinate with her HS schedule. Also, we are getting the math class for free as they choose 2 students from her school to take a free course there. The following semester she will probably have to take math at the local CC where they also offer her school I free course a semester, so maybe if scheduling works out ok, she could add a French class there at cost. Definitely something to think about! Thanks!