I have completed 3 years of French so far. Every single year has been a nightmare trying to get french on my schedule. Sophomore year I had to take it online and it was ridiculously hard. This year (senior year) I can’t get it on my schedule because it conflicts with AP psychology, a course I am really excited about taking. I wanted to keep a language on my schedule though because I like french, but I am more excited about psych.
I have 4 options:
Don’t take a foreign language
Take Spanish 1 instead to fulfill 4 years of a language, even though it will be 3 years of french and 1 year of Spanish
Take french 4 online - may be super expensive and I really won’t have time because this fall is so busy for me. I also don’t want it to conflict with like the 1 or 2 online classes I want to take this school year with biology
Drop AP psych for french 4
For reference, I want to be a biology major. My top choice is Penn but I am also looking at Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke and UChicago.
Can you take French through dual enrollment at a community college and/or take a college French class this summer? (it may not be too late for the second session of summer classes for some schools). Language learning in the summer is often a more immersive experience, so that can be good.
There are no shortage of online accredited foreign language courses that are affordable, esp. those offered by community colleges or public four-year colleges where you would be charged in-state tuition. Check Oregon State’s Online classes – I think they charge ca. $300 per credit hour even for out of state students. Also one of the public colleges in Arizona has online accredited classes. U Wisconsin has excellent language programs as does Brigham Young (they have an online French literature class that is probably at your level).
Typically, the most expensive online (or other) classes are those that are designed specifically for high school students (e.g., Middlebury’s language classes for high school students are $$$)
As @happy1 suggests, as far as college admissions requirements go, you need to check each school’s common data set and/or website. Most schools are fine with 3 years and/or through level 3 of a foreign language. Few require four (although some might recommend it; Penn, for example, recommends four). I don’t think adding level one of a new language will make your application any stronger.
You will be at a disadvantage if you take fewer than the recommended number of years of foreign language. The schools you named look closely at transcripts - don’t think that they won’t notice.
Taking 3 years of French and 1 of Spanish completely misses the point. The schools want to see mastery of higher levels of foreign language.
If you were applying as a psychology major, the answer could possibly be different.
What did your AP scores end up being?
Depending on the college you attend, you might wish you had taken French 4 in high school. Many college have world language requirements (from which you may be exempt with a decent AP or SAT II score). If foreign language is required and you are not exempted, you’ll find yourself paying tuition for a class you could have taken for free.
Lots of “ifs” and unknowns here. Do your research carefully and thoughtfully.
Most colleges only require 2-3 years. Check the colleges.
While true, look at the level of colleges the OP is asking about. Even if some of those colleges don’t “require” 4 years, many/most applicants will have 4+ years. And, as mentioned above, most, if not all, of the colleges on the list have a FL requirement to graduate. In theory, the more one takes in HS, the less one needs to take in college. Some of those colleges (although not Yale) allow a student to be exempt from FL on college based on test scores.
For the schools on your list, you need 4 years of language. I think you need to prioritize french over psych.
The schools that the OP is looking at might have a great intro psych course.
Promise yourself ou’ll take Psychology your very first semester in college and the French 4 to be competitive at the level of universities you’re talking about.
You can take psych in college. Take the French class.
For top schools you really need 4 years of a foreign language whether or not it is “required”. With that said, I know a 2018 senior who only took 3 years of Spanish and was accepted to H, B, Cornell, UPenn, UCB and other top schools but the rest of her application was off the charts stellar (36 ACT, 4.0 UW GPA, all 5’s AP exams, etc). For the rest of us mere mortals, it is wise to take the 4 years of a language according to our private college counselor.
Question for everybody that responded:
I have thought this through and I was thinking about taking an online class through a university that would not be full year and I would take it during a spring semester. This way, it does not conflict with college application season nor does it conflict with the online classes I want to take at my county college for biology. And I won’t have to make this payment along with the thousands of dollars of college apps I’ll be paying for.
If I plan to do this later in the year, how can I indicate to colleges that I will be taking the course towards the latter half of my senior year? Would they count this as fulfilling my 4 years of a language?
@GnocchiB I will def not consider taking Spanish 1 then, and I’ll make sure I can get french 4 someway somehow, be it online or having to drop AP psych.
My AP scores? 5s on APUSH and AP English language. 4s on biology and statistics. Very happy with how it all turned out, especially since I thought I might have failed bio. A bit sad with a 4 on Statistics but it’s okay because it was the first year the class was running and we were sort of just the “guinea pig” class.
You report your Spring semester classes on the commonapp and list “Dual Enrollment Intermediate French, wxz college” in your spring list. Note that not taking a required class you’re scheduled to take can lead to being rescinded.
Also college foreign language is faster than high school Foreign language w so that you’d need to take the third semester of college level French (often called 201).
Is the online class for credit, or is it some kind of MOOC or something? You need a for credit class. I still think you should just take the class at your school.
How many dual enrollment classes do you have so far? How many different colleges does that represent? Please remember that college credits are forever. For the rest of your life, whenever you apply to a degree program at an accredited college or university in the US, or for a job that requires all of your transcripts, you will be obligated o send official copies of all of these transcripts. Keeping track of umpteen college transcripts is a pain.
Taking classes through an online high school is different. Once you are safely in college, provided you don’t transfer, no one will care about your high school records.
So if you feel that you must take French as a DE class at a college, instead of through an online high school, try to find a class at a place where you have already taken classes.
Congrats on the AP scores @katnissjul. Agree with intparent that you should take French at your high school.