<p>Franglish, that’s a very good idea. Thanks for offering your expertise to me.</p>
<p>z-mom:</p>
<p>Don’t forget that BM accepts ACT in lieu of SAT+Subject TEsts…</p>
<p>Also, she can take the AP test, and if she walks out thinking she did terribly, then just cancel the score right away. (If that option is still offered.)</p>
<p>I also think Bryn Mawr would take into consideration the lack of HL classes in her language.</p>
<p>Re: Latin AP: I don’t think they have an oral component, either, which makes it easier. I think my D told me that in Spanish AP test some of the listening component was listening to actual recorded RADIO BROADCASTS!!! It is interesting to read the posts by professors and teachers on this subject.</p>
<p>You guys are awesome! Thank you for the information.</p>
<p>My son took the SAT II and AP tests after AP French and got a 710 and a 4. All his other APs were 5s and SAT IIs were higher. The language ones were bears! But I think the colleges do know this.</p>
<p>My d Spanish teacher - a native speaker - described the AP as very hard - she self tested and got some wrong. My daughters issue with the SAT2 was that it had odd vocab - she studied and used the Princeton guide but some of the vocab was pretty obscure - again weighing favorably for native speakers. She did well on Eng and Hist so she is going probably not going to retake the Spanish.</p>
<p>S got 5s on AP Spanish Language, AP French Language, and AP French Lit. He was also nationally ranked on the Grand Concours, and 1st in the state on same. He got a 780 on the French SAT II w/o listening. A student at the HS who had just spent a year studying abroad in France got the same score. To my mind, that indicates that the SATII is pretty tough. I would have thought he could pull an 800. (Not, I hasten to add, that there is anything wrong with a 780.)</p>
<p>zoosermom, since it sounds like she is thinking of taking Latin instead of Italian, I was hoping for someone with more Latin experience to comment. But I will say that the Latin APs (post #25) cover specific books and if she isn’t going to take a large chunk of time to cover that specific info, she shouldn’t take them. She may be prepared for the Latin SAT. Most of the people on this forum rate it as easy (no surprose typical cc) but when D took a practice test in June her vocab was weaker. So she plans to prep and take it later. Latin SAT is only offered in Dec and Jun.</p>
<p>Well we were really wondering if she should take the Italian one because that’s what she’s studied, although not offered to the AP level. The convoluted, second part of the question was whether the lack of Latin would be a deal-breaker in terms of studying Classics in college.</p>
<p>I even confuse myself!</p>
<p>z-mom:</p>
<p>the lack of Latin is not a deal-breaker for Classics on my son’s college, which offers both Latin and Greek to incoming Frosh. btw: Latin appears to be losing luster as a HS offering (as in German), particularly on the Left Coast, which colleges obviously understand.</p>
<p>She should take Italian because that’s the one she knows best. She might take another (extra) SAT2 in case she doesn’t like the score. Keep in mind that good scores in languages are less certain than other fields because the data is muddied by native speakers. Her lack of Latin will put her a bit behind other concentrators with better backgrounds, but it’s not impossible. So few high schools offer Latin, I’m sure she will not be the only classics major with a skimpy background. If she wants to play catchup she might find summer programs/courses. I took a look at Harvard’s Classics requirements - it didn’t look to me like she’d be in trouble there at all:[FAS</a> Handbook for Students: Chapter 3: Fields of Concentration](<a href=“http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter3/cl.html]FAS”>http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter3/cl.html)</p>
<p>
Daughter goes to an extremely poor, inner-city school (she’s in the IB) that deals with the resultant problems, so things like Latin aren’t always possible.</p>
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<p>THat was really nice of you. Thanks much! Even though she has excellent stats and stuff, I’m fairly confident that my daughter will reach no higher than Bryn Mawr and that will likely be the outlier. You’ve given me a great idea to check out the requirements at less selective schools she’s looking at.</p>
<p>I’m not pushing Harvard, I just know where things are on their site. :)</p>
<p>..I have not read all of the posts in detail so if this is a non sequitur … pardon!</p>
<p>For Latin Subject test … make sure she does practice tests … as said earlier, each course of Latin is so unique. My D had not taken vocab in over a year so had to study like mad for the three days she had available and did fine … above 700. Her school uses Wheelock which is considered a college text. I think some of the other Latin courses seem light in comparison … though I think Wheelock is not so much fun.</p>
<p>Example as a freshman in hs, if she enrolled at our local private school, a continuation of her middle school, she would have been placed in Latin 2 honors (according to the hs Latin teacher). At her boarding school, she was placed in regular Latin 1 … because of the different curriculum.</p>
<p>It all depends on many factors.</p>
<p>Another thought in support of study abroad. My D got 5 on her Italian AP after nine months of study in Italy with no prior knowledge. Should you actually take the time to “study” a language for fluency in college when other means are more time effective?? Of course there are other considerations … but a thought. Ds next language is Portuguese … so instead of finding a college that teaches the language she plans to both pick it up on her own and spend time abroad in Brazil. She is looking for a college that has a generally good language dept so that resources are available such as language tables etc… knowing she will find a prof or two who know Italian and Portuguese.</p>
<p>Pardon the ramble …</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has a very good classics dept, don’t they? I remember that when I applied, back in the dark ages, Richmond Lattimore was teaching there.</p>