So If I took spanish 1 freshman year and don’t want to take spanish 4 senior year I’ll be ok?
Hi guys- quick question. I’ve been taking Spanish since 5th grade, and I’m in AP Spanish right now. I actually took the exam last year and got a 5, but chose to take the class regardless because I love the language. Before you can go to AP, though, you must complete Spanish 1-6 and the advanced, all of which I have done. Would a school look upon this favorably and would it maybe give me a boost? I’m also in French 4 (getting to AP french is the same deal in terms of level progression) and Arabic 2.
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@dril it depends on the university you apply to. If your dream school says “3-4 years foreign language”, I think taking 3 years should be fine since you are at level 3. I’d go visit your guidance counselor just to make sure (and also so you’ve satisfied your HS language requirement)
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My high school only offers 2 years of foreign language (I had to take Italian). I feel this is lacking. I know Chinese and Thai but how to prove anything?
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Do the respective cultural centers or the embassies offer external certification? What about a certificate from Confucius institute?
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Chinese language proficiency up to a certain level can be shown to colleges using an SAT subject or AP test.
Of course, if you attend a college and want to take more advanced or literature courses in those languages, the college will probably have a placement procedure or test.
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Daughter picking classes for 9th grade. Strong in STEM, less so in humanities and foreign language. How much will she get dinged in continuing in basic as opposed to advanced language? A number of classmates in advanced are learning language as their second or third language. She feels more comfortable in the basic class, though seems as if she has given up on ever doing well. Some of her cousins are @ NESCAC schools and she talks about wanting to attend one of them. Will the basic language class ding her?
@BEsMama As long as she does well in them then the regular classes will likely not be held against her, especially if she indeed excels at STEM classes.
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I was born and raised in a country that has multiple official languages, but I am a native speaker of English. English is my first and only language.
I am taking one of my country’s “official” languages as my FL requirement for IGETC. My counselor told me there is a chance the UCs I applied to will not give me credit for them because they will assume I am a native speaker of that language taking an elementary language course for easy credit.
Has anyone heard of this?
*I applied for transfer from a California Community College.
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IGETC for transferring from a community college to UC only cares whether you have the specified level of proficiency in a non-English language, regardless of how acquired (whether formal course work to a specified level, or native/heritage proficiency proven though testing).
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/transfer/advising/igetc/index.html
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Right, that part I know; he said it would count for IGETC regardless.
However, his concern was that the UC might think I am a native speaker of a language (when I am not) and thus not give me credit for the course in terms of units needed to transfer. In other words, instead of having said, 99 units, I would only have 89 (and thus be 1 short for junior transfer).
Basically, the concern isn’t with IGETC – I’m good either way for that – but whether or not UC will count the foreign language class I’ve taken among my transferable units (e.g., 89 vs 99, because the two courses are worth 5 units each).
Nothing on UC websites suggests that what you are worrying about is an issue. But you can ask UC directly if you want UC’s answer.
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Good advice
Hi! I took french as my chosen language to study but realized it was not my thing. I took another year at the recommendation of those around me but I am still struggling heavily. At this rate, it will heavily damage my GPA and I will have to drop a class I am interested in. Therefore, I decided not to take french 3 next year. How will that affect colleges’ thoughts about me?
Agree with bloxjacket - easier to complete in HS
My sophomore daughter has been taking Foreign Language level 2 & 3. She wants my opinion of if she can skip Spanish in her Junior year and take Foreign Language level 4 in her Senior, or better yet, just stop taking it altogether. She is fine with getting a good grade, but wants to focus more on other subjects.
I am not sure what to say, therefore I am asking for an advice.
In her 11th grade, she needs to take following 3 courses for 3 periods: English, History, Math
She also strongly wants to take 2 Science courses for 3 units/periods.
That makes 5 courses in 6 periods total. She can add Foreign Language level 4 if it will matter for selective college admission, but she would really want to avoid overworking.
For what it is worth, she is likely to have a STEM focused application, and has been taking “many” AP & College STEM courses.
Skipping a year may result in having to catch up when taking the next level after the skipped year, unless she maintains practice during the skipped year. Examples would be talking in Spanish to others (heritage speakers are often not hard to find in many schools these days) and reading Spanish language media like https://news.google.com/news/headlines?ned=es_us&hl=es-419&gl=US .
In terms of stopping at level 3, some colleges may prefer to see level 4, although it may not be a hard requirement. Some colleges also have foreign language graduation requirements that are higher than high school level 3.
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My daughter was signed up to take a dual credit Spanish IV class for her junior year and we had an unexpected scheduling conflict because there was only one section of the advanced math class being offered. I have a STEM kid too so the math class was the priority. Much to my chagrin, she had to drop Spanish (thankfully her Spanish III class had also been a dual credit college course) but I always heard she needed 4 years for the highly selective colleges. She also had to drop concert choir that year. She ended up subbing in AP Stats and the engineering series offered in her school. Those engineering courses ended up opening the doors to engineering awards from the school, the community, and a regional university, amazing LOR from that teacher, the opportunity to be part of trial engineering III project course which led to patent discussion, and then opened up room in her schedule senior year to triple up in science. She targeted STEM focused universities and had a very successful admissions process. She wasn’t gunning for the super elite schools though.
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Anyone with experience of Arabic in the application process to colleges? Any specific programs/ colleges you guys found that were interesting?
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@SculptorDad my DS who just finished his freshman year of college took Spanish 3 as a freshman and Spanish 4 as a sophomore and decided not to take any more language. His HS had a graduation requirement of 2 years or level 3 so he met that requirement. His college has a language requirement and he tested into a high level of Spanish in college and in the fall will take a 200 level Spanish class not having had Spanish for 3 years which I think will prove challenging. If your DC knows some colleges they are interested in look at the websites and see if they have language requirements for applying. Some LAC require 4 years of language in HS.
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