<p>My junior son has taken three years of HS French (starting from scratch). He is eligible to take AP French next year, but would like to drop French in order to free up his schedule to take a different AP class. (Taking both classes will be impossible. Tight schedule.) Ordinarily, I would counsel him against skipping AP French, but there's a wrinkle: He attends a Jewish day school where four years of Modern Hebrew are mandatory. So even if he drops French, he'll still have four years of Hebrew on his transcript (along with the three years of French) with As in all of it. The class he wants to make room for is AP Music Theory, which is perfectly understandable -- he's an accomplished classical musician. (He'll take it online.)</p>
<p>My thinking is that, under the circumstances, forgoing AP French will not raise any eyebrows in college admissions offices. He's going to be applying to some selective schools. Concur? Disagree?</p>
<p>Why would it conflict your son's offline school schedule if the class he claims to drop AP French over is online? Is he going to sit in the library and take the course during the period that he would have taken AP French?</p>
<p>My son had this same problem last year and ended up going with the AP language, and regrets it. He absolutely won't do well on the AP test, and really wishes he had gone with the other AP class. He decided to take the language class for a lot of reasons, one of which is he loves the teacher and the students are a great group. They've all become friends over the last 3 years and he wasn't ready to give that up. But the other class would have been more engaging and ultimately useful when he gets to college.</p>
<p>wjb....your S should take the courses that he really feels strongest about. His 3 years of French is plenty, even if he hadn't had the Hebrew. Having both is awesome. Relax; don't get caught up in the CC frenzy of worrying about how your kid's every move will affect his college chances. Let him enjoy his senior year.</p>
<p>Ah, thanks all. So good to come here for instant reality check/confirmation of one's gut instincts! </p>
<p>Amievil -- he can't do both classes because at a day school, in addition to the full array of general studies classes, students also take a full load of Judaics classes. Adding another class would just be too much.</p>
<p>We crossed this bridge last month. DD is in Spanish 3 and does not want to go on to AP Spanish. The GC agreed that AP Spanish would look good on her transcript but DD, as GC said, "wasn't feeling it!" So she's taking AP Psychology instead. I feel like it's senior year, she might as well take a couple of courses she's just plain interested in rather than worrying every minute about what colleges "want to see."</p>
<p>My son took AP french jr year and French 5 this year (more of a French culture course). He got a 4 on the AP test and that's considered (I'm told) a good score on a foreign language test because native speakers take the tests and bend the curve. My kid was passionate about French. I'd say let your kid follow his passions.</p>
<p>"My son had this same problem last year and ended up going with the AP language, and regrets it. He absolutely won't do well on the AP test, and really wishes he had gone with the other AP class."</p>
<p>Similar situation here. Another AP class would have been a breeze compared to the AP language and more fun.</p>
<p>A couple of my kids have/had the situation of 8 years Hebrew in elementary school, and Latin in HS. Fortunately there are 2 Latin APs, cause there is no Hebrew AP, and that would be the <em>modern</em> language! I like to say they're getting a good classical education--all they need is Greek in college...</p>
<p>My S dropped Latin after 3 years. It was not a problem. Even though he made A's in Latin he was just sick of it and wanted to do another class that he liked for his senior year.</p>
<p>PackMom -- Like yours, mine is also "just sick of" the second foreign language. And although he loves many of his Judaics classes (they are,after all, a big reason to choose a Jewish day school) the dual curriculum makes it tough, really impossible, for the school to offer many electives. By senior year, some of these kids are eager to pursue their own interests, at least on a modest scale.</p>
<p>WJB - your kiddo will be all set as far as any/all language requirements for college - I concur with the idea of him taking a course of his choice :)</p>
<p>He should definitely take the course of his choice, but why not register for the AP French exam without taking the class anyway? He can just go in for the test and see how he scores - if he gets at least a 3 (and after three years of French I don't see how he won't), he can get credit at a lot of colleges. If he gets a 4, he gets credit at pretty much all schools. Any credit helps!</p>