<p>So I plan on applying to Harvard and Princeton, and they both "recommend" 4 years of a language in high school.
I am not scheduled to take Latin next year, but I have been taking it for 5 years now, counting grades 7 and 8. I took Latin SL IB and got a 6 on that exam. I am a member of my school's Latin Honors Society. I have gotten Maxima Cum Laude once and Magna Cum Laude twice on the National Latin Exam. Lastly (and most impressively) I won the Randolph College Classical Scholar Book Award, which is awarded by the Classics faculty at Randolph College to a student who is really good at Latin/Ancient Greek.
This being said, I am pretty proficient at Latin, but I'm afraid that not taking it next year could hurt me in the admissions process because Harvard's website reads, "We urge you to try to study at least one foreign language and its literature for four years. Continuity of study is important, too, because a "year off" from a language can be a real setback."
This makes me nervous, because I will have only taken 3 in high school and there will indeed be a "year off" in my senior year.
However, I also think its a bit ridiculous, because the only other course I could take in Latin would be AP Latin, which isn't really considered more advanced that IB SL; it would just be another year in Latin, and I would have to replace AP Stat with that class.</p>
<p>What classes are you taking this year?
What do you plan on majoring on?</p>
<p>Junior Year:
IB HL Bio (year 1)
AP Euro
Pre-Cal Honors
English III Honors
IB SL Economics
IB SL Latin</p>
<p>Senior Year:
IB HL Bio
IB HL History
IB HL English
IB SL Math
AP US Gov
AP Comp Gov
AP Stat</p>
<p>Intended Major(s): History, Poly Sci, or Economics</p>
<p>I also took an intensified 3-week International Relations course at Georgetown University with this organization called JSA; it’s not college credit, but it still looks good, especially with my intended major(s).</p>
<p>It seems to /that the point of taking 4 years is to advance every year to a higher level of study and comprehension of the language. If the AP then they will know that and your effort will be recognized. Taking the extra year in that case will not be seen as a plus, but as an easy A. You can make a note in your additional info that you studied it for 5 years. I’d take the elective you want.</p>
<p>But get more input, I’m not familiar with the IB program.</p>
<p>Ok, but it still makes me nervous that they urge to not take a “year off”… I mean, would they understand if I didn’t take it next year?</p>
<p>They don’t recommend for years during high school. They recommend the level of proficiency you would have after four years of study at the high school level. </p>
<p>The suggestion to not take a year off applies if you plan to continue your language study in college, or taking the first year in middle school then no language junior year with the plan of picking it back up senior year.</p>
<p>You’re fine.</p>
<p>Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4</p>
<p>The ‘year off’ means not skipping a year BETWEEN years of the language. You have 5 years with no skipping a year, culminating with the highest IB course offered, so it doesn’t apply. Sr year is not skipping, you just have finished the program the previous year.</p>
<p>Go talk to your GC about it for reassurance.</p>
<p>Goodness, you just don’t want to take yes for an answer, do you? ;)</p>
<p>Ally and BrownParent are exactly right.</p>
<p>My son is in a similar situation. He is an IB diploma candidate who finished 4 years of Spanish at the end of junior year, taking the highest level of Spanish the school offers, a combo class of AP/IB HL. He is basically replacing the language class with IB Psychology which is his 6th ‘spoke’ that the diploma requires.</p>
<p>Everything I’ve heard leads me to believe that colleges know the rigor and course requirements for the IB diploma, so don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for that reassurance! It is much appreciated!</p>
<p>Yeah, you should be fine. Be sure to note that you did study for 5 consecutive years. :)</p>