<p>S is ready for college and I find a lot of top schools "recommend" 3/4 years of a foreign language in HS. A lot of folks, including GCs, are saying that it is a requirement to have what they "recommend". For example, if Harvard "recommends" 4 and you only have 2, you are a goner. I find this hard to believe. For one thing, if having 3/4 yrs of foreign language has make or break importance, why do most top schools don't even want a recommendation from your foreign language teacher? Do we have myth here?</p>
<p>I believe Harvard requires you to pretty much become fluent in a language while you’re there. I don’t think it is so much something they really look at, it’s just that most of your competition will have very similar stats and anything you can do–like taking more foreign language classes may help.</p>
<p>I think the recommendation is there just to show that you’re decently well-rounded. While it is true that not all top colleges accept extremely “well-rounded” candidates, I also think that it’s true that they want at least some kind of “well-rounded-ness” in their student body… I dunno, just an opinion.</p>
<p>At my HS foreign language usually conflicts with advanced science
APs in the Junior year. So a number of students leave out
the foreign language. In Top 25 schools below the top 5 it
does not seem to matter whether the student does 3 or 4 years.</p>
<p>At top 5 schools, it is clear that demonstrated proficiency in a foreign
language is something that makes a difference. Having 4 yrs does not
get you admitted; not having the qualification on the other hand hurts
the applicant.</p>
<p>OP, it does not seem to be a myth based on anectodal evidence at my HS.
In '08, I applied and was admitted to the specific top 10 schools I applied to
(I did have 4 yrs of a foreign language in HS leading to an AP level).
In '09 a student with a very simialr profile minus foreign language
(had only 2 yrs) applied to and was waitlisted/rejected at all the
top 10 schools he applied to. Sure, there could have been other
reasons. His lack of foreign language proficiency did seem to
stick out significantly.</p>
<p>Also I have noticed that those students who attain proficiency in
multiple foreign langauges are admitted routinely from my HS
at Harvard. (Asian-origin students studying their own language do
not fall in this category though)</p>
<p>If proficiency in another language is what adcoms are going after, does that mean bilingual students don’t even need to take FL classes? Also, why “asian-origin students studying their own language” not given the credit?</p>
<p>^
Because it’s the easy way out. If you already speak another language they want you to broaden your horizons and take another.</p>
<p>If you already know another language, why not broaden your horizon in other subject area? What is the rationale here on forcing another FL when the time may be better spent on advanced science or performance art?</p>
<p>There are different views of different colleges, when it comes to high school colleges to be like many graduate schools on transfer credit and some schools on AP credit.</p>
<p>They view all subject areas as equally important. You are only required to have a certain number in an area because they recognize the limitations of what you can fit in. Some graduate schools tell students they will accept transfer courses for credit, but the student will still have to take the same number of courses in that area, just at a more advanced level. The same with quite a few top colleges and APs.</p>
<p>Consider if you learned Pre-cal in middle school and decided you simply weren’t going to take anymore math. You did meet the requirement, yes, but not the spirit of the requirement.</p>
<p>So, even if I went up to AP French 5, but took it my junior year, and decided to take double sciences senior year because I had completed the highest offering of my school, that would be looked down upon?</p>
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<p>I couldn’t see how the heck they could hold that against you. If you’re still in high school and you’ve completed what amounts to a sophomore college class in foreign language and meet most any college’s FL requirement you aren’t expected to take any more. I mean heck, any more work would be almost a college minor in French.</p>
<p>I got into Cornell and my friend got into brown with only 2 years of foreign language. Of course I’m an engineering major and he’s a cs major and we both quit language to take cs courses in high school.</p>
<p>At my high school, third and fourth year Spanish and French are offered the same time as AP Calculus, AP Biology, and AP English Literature.
Sorry Harvard, those are much more important to me. =P
I took two years of Spanish (to meet the UC A-G requirements) and then I got out of there. Even though I live in a city dominated by Spanish speakers, the Spanish program at our school is a joke.</p>
<p>If I finished 2 years of French but completed the French 3 level class in the 2nd year (French 1 is 8th grade french in our district), does that count as two or three years of French?</p>
<p>I’ve heard that colleges view the “years” for foreign languages on a level basis.</p>
<p>The selective colleges want applicants to take as rigorous a courseload as possible. They aren’t necessarily penalizing the kid who causally takes 2 yrs foreign language but the fact is that kid is being held up against 11 other kids who took 4 years of language. If there are two slots and all else pretty much matches, who is at the disadvantage? Of course the 2 year kid. Because you’d be penalizing the other 11 right?</p>
<p>It’s “recommended” like getting top grades and decent SAT/ACTs are “recommended.” Is it an absolute requirement? No but there better be a compelling reason. Look at the crushing number of great kids turned away.</p>
<p>I would like an answer to Protangonzer’s question.</p>
<p>T26E4 - If a kid only took 2 yrs of FL, then for the other two years, the kid must have taken other classes to fill the slots. How does this in any way fail to show “as rigorous a courseload as possible”? For all you know, the kid may be taken some AP level classes instead as some have said. For argument’s sake, if FL is viewed as “rigorous”, then why don’t adcoms from HYPSMC allow recommendation from FL teachers?</p>
<p>I get what you’re saying, PaperChaserPop. The question still stands, though, why would the colleges ask for 3/4 years of FL?</p>
<p>My guess is, just a guess, that FL needs continuous everyday learning effort to master except for some linguistic geniuses. Other subjects may be done in some short time concentrated study. Maybe some schools want students with such ability as well as other talents.</p>
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<p>Heh. I know how this goes. By the end of my sophomore year of high school, I had completed both AP French Language and AP French Lit, and that was as far as my school’s curriculum went. But my district required 3 years of the same foreign language to get an honors degree. I took a grad class in medieval French lit at the local state school, having been assured that it would count for the rest of my requirement, and then was told that it wouldn’t, because the college professors weren’t certified to teach high schoolers! So for my senior year, I did “independent study French” - I sat at the teacher’s desk while she taught the French 2 kids, and read French novels and plays and newspapers, and occasionally wrote a report on one of them (in French). That counted.</p>
<p>Most of the colleges to which I applied wanted 4 years of high school French. But none of them batted an eyebrow at my oddball schedule that was not technically 4 years of high school French. They do usually have at least a little sense. ;)</p>
<p>I disagree with your guess. Proficiecy in all major subject areas require long term dedication. In math, for example, a “good” math HS student would have to spend four years to reach the level of elementary calculus. In biology, you can move from HS bio to advanced stem cell research in just as many years if not more. In music, it may take a kid 8 or more years just to be able to play interesting piece by sight. A demonstrated proficiency or expertise in any major field of study IS an indication of ability and discipline for sustained learning. It is definitely not unique for FL.</p>