If a college recommends four years of a single language, does that only include high school or middle school too? I took Spanish 1 in 8th grade (middle school) and Spanish 2, 3, and 4 in high school. Is it necessary that I take AP Spanish 5 in my senior year to fulfill this recommendation? If my middle school language class doesn’t count, would it be a good idea for me to take another year of Spanish? In high school, I’ve generally only focused on STEM. Does this affect whether or not I should take AP Spanish 5?
Foreign language is unique in that for almost every college, level completed is the same as # of years. So completing level 4 in HS will satisfy the recommendation of every colleges that requests 4 years.
So in your case, you do not have to take a fifth year, although you might want to for other reasons.
Unless you received high school credit for the Spanish course you took in middle school (which would be on your h.s. transcript),then you will need to take the AP course in order to have 4 years of language.
See your counselor ask how foreign language is addressed in your school’s profile.
“Unless you received high school credit for the Spanish course you took in middle school (which would be on your h.s. transcript),then you will need to take the AP course in order to have 4 years of language.”
Strongly disagree with this, as do many, many, many other data points.
As noted above, language is an outlier, and almost any college looks a the number of years of a language, regardless of the grade. Our HS puts 8th grade language on the transcript for this very reason, though there is no “high school credit” for it - it doesn’t count toward credits required for graduation.
The fact that 8th grade Spanish 1 was followed by Spanish 2 indicates is was a real language class, and you now have 4 years of a language.
Answered in more detail here: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/does-middle-school-foreign-language-count-at-college-admission-time/
@FireReed , This is exactly why you need to see your GC and know what the foreign language requirements are in your school district, city, state.
I live in NYC. You cannot simply be granted credit for courses taken in middle school, or place them on the high school transcript with out passing one of the NYS exams. Even if it is recorded on your transcript, unless the grade from state exam is also on the transcript or can be provided by the middle school (all state exams are listed in NYC DOE ATS system and STARS), the student cannot receive credit.
In NYS, Unless they are getting a CTE or Arts Designation, students must have 3 years of high school foreign language (and pass the LOTE exam )in order to receive an Advanced Regents diploma (advanced regents honors or advanced regents mastery)
NYS (NYSED Part 100.4 section D) will only allow high school credit for students taking courses in middle school through accelerated courses that include passing either the NYS Regents exams (English, Math, Social Studies, Science) or the State language Proficiency exam (SLP for LOTE (Languages other than english)
NYC DOE High School Academic Policy
^ OP was asking about what colleges consider as fulfilling 4 years of foreign language recommendations, not what local or state accreditation requirements are. @skieurope is 100% correct in #2. It would make 0 sense for an AO to treat a kid who went through Spanish 4 by junior year in one high school differently than another kid who did the same thing in another high school, with the only difference being one high school crediting Spanish 1 taken in MS for HS credit purposes and the other not.
Our experience with every AO we have spoken to have said they just want to see [Foreign Language] 3 or 4 completed, as the case may be. You can count in that group HYPS and a number of other selective national universities and LAC’s.
Assuming this is for a top college, since they ask for 4 years. There is no easy answer.
This is a case where the adcoms determine, not the high school. If they see lang 2,3,4 for grades 9+, they can be satisfied you reached a high enough level, dedicated 3 years in hs. Not because you started and got credit for middle school, but because you reached level 4. And it does depend on the context. If you move on to a rigorous senior courseload, fine. It it’s a lot of fluff, not so great.
If for some reason, you only took 3 and 4 in hs (eg, had lived in Spain,) just the level 4 won’t be enough. Very few kids get to stop at two years in hs. The prominent exception is taking higher math, eg, post calc, when there’s a sched confict. Even that’s rare.
And the top colleges don’t want to see you “generally only focused on STEM,” whatever that means here. They want rigor across the core disciplines.
So maybe OP is ok, but the context of other classes taken matters much and we don’t know what that is. I think, when an AOs say reach 3 or 4, they’re not mentioning that they view this in context.
My son took an assessment test before he entered high school and recommended to start from Foreign Language “4” in 9th grade and completed “AP/5” in 10th grade. He did not take the foreign language class in his middle school, however, he studied the language privately since preschool, outside of public school system. He had two more classmates in his grade who took the same course (completed “AP/5” in 10th grade). According to his high school counselor, if students finish “3” in 10th grade (because typically college-bound students will start foreign language “1” in middle school), it will be considered as “3 years of Foreign Language”. So, if you finished “4” in 11th grade, that should be “4 years of Foreign Language”.
In my state Spanish 1 in 8th grade goes on your high school transcript making it count as a high school credit. Therefore you could be done with language by 11th grade if you so choose. You need to check with your guidance office to make sure your school is the same. I bet it is! Enjoy selecting a different class in 12th grade.
As much as I hate to disagree with my moderator colleague, my experience with many of these colleges is contained in my earlier answer, and has also been borne out by other users in the FRQ:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1802227-faq-foreign-language-p1.html
Of course, they OP would be well served to verify requirements directly with the colleges on his/her list.
You are conflating credits on the HS transcript, which is not what the OP asked, with college admissions recommendations. I strictly addressed the credit as asked, and assumed that the OP has whatever credits his/her HS will need for graduation.
I often say on this site that the plural of anecdote is not data, but as a data point of one, I did ask this of every college to which I applied (and many more where I did not apply), and the answer was as I gave above. My own transcript showed 3 credits in HS Spanish (although through AP-level) and 1 credit in HS Chinese (which in hindsight taking Chinese was a mistake on my part, but I own that decision). I did not study Spanish in MS, so there were no credits to apply. And I just graduated from a university which “recommends” 4 years of the same FL .
Having said that, while the OP does not need FL for admissions, s/he may want to take AP Spanish for other reasons. For instance, most colleges which “recommend” 4 years also have a FL requirement to graduate. Potentially, the more one takes in HS, the less one needs to take in college, and some colleges will exempt entirely. Additionally, and I agree with @lookingforward on this, colleges really are not looking for specialists in HS. so “I wanna focus on STEM” is something that I think makes their eyes roll.
I still say it depends on your fuller context. It’s not good enough to say, “My hs accepts it” or “My hs puts in on the 9-12 transcript.”
I think we’re waivering between what anyone needs for a college that asks for 4 years (which, of course, has some flex,) versus this OP. I also think some confuse states like NY, which can tend to throw everything on a transcript. But top adcoms are not required to look at middle school work. The want to see what you chose and how you performed during the official hs years.
This isn’t simply about (supposed) proficiency. The higher levels of FL expose you to more. And top adcoms, dealing with an endless supply of top performers, can easily look at FL and make their own decisions, separate from your own HS policy.
Imo, OP needs to step back and take a hard look at how his full record matches- or not. And be willing to fill in blanks, accordingly. That incudes ECs.
It’s not the end of the world to stop at 4 in jr year. But OP has a lot more to consider before assuming a match.
Thank you, everyone, for your input.
@lookingforward and @skieurope, my transcript shows that I took Spanish 1 in 8th grade. Sorry for the confusion, but when I said I “generally only focused on STEM” I meant that I am better at STEM than humanities. I still took AP humanities classes in high school and my current schedule for senior year is completely AP, so I am still doing challenging classes in my core classes. I am also interested in taking some humanities courses in college. My ECs, though, are mostly STEM-related. The problem is that AP Spanish 5 is known to have a particularly large amount of homework given in my school, so that’s why I had wanted to avoid it and take another AP class instead (AP Stats). By the way, my intended major is Bioengineering or Biochemistry along with a premed track.
Could you please tell me if not taking a foreign language senior year could be the deciding factor/ for whether or not I am admitted to top colleges or even jeopardize my chances completely?
I realize this thread got confusing, because we sidetracked a bit. Chances are that you’re fine, if the sr classes are rigorous. No need to add AP stats. But we still have an incomplete picture.
No need to add AP stats if you want a STEM major (you’ll take Calculus based statistics in college, not elementary, algebra based stats) and since you reached level 4 junior year then you’re free to take other classes.
No. That said, without seeing the complete picture of senior courses, AP Spanish may or may not be the right choice, but AP Stats probably is the wrong choice. For a STEM major, calc-based stats (which AP Stats is not) is more useful, and may be a requirement for the major.
As a pre-med, you may want to consider that better skill at Spanish may be helpful in a medical career.
AP Stats vs AP Spanish is not an easy one, you need four years of FL and math for the selective colleges, any reason you can’t take both? If you took AP Calc jr year, you may be ok not taking Stats sr year so I would lean to AP Spanish.
If the student has already completed AP calculus and Spanish year 4 (as a non native/heritage speaker), then it is likely that almost all colleges will see that as “4 years” of each subject.
But AP Spanish is likely to be more useful than AP statistics for the OP’s pre-med intentions. (Yes, statistics may be useful or required in medicine, but taking statistics in college, often calculus based, will be needed anyway.)
Here’s the simple answer. In our Long Island school, guidance told every student applying to competitive schools to take all 5 core subjects for all 4 years of high school—so math ( not statistics), English, history, science, foreign language. They also said to take the highest level in each. So whereas one may get away with dropping math for stats, science for psychology or foreign language all together, these students are still going to compete with plenty of students who do not take an easier path, students who are willing to deal with AP Spanish homework in order to up their chances for acceptance.