<p>So I'm planning to apply to those top colleges (ex. Ivy, Stanford, Berkeley, etc).</p>
<p>Are at least two years (three/four for some) of languages REQUIRED?
Basically, I'm Chinese and I've taken the SAT II Chinese (got 790) and took the AP Chinese (4 or 5). Did I fulfill the requirements (like by placing out)? </p>
<p>And are those even REQUIRED or are they RECOMMENDED?
I know obviously it's good to have foreign languages, but I'm interested in math/science and business classes. So it's not like I'll be taking an extra free or anything, I'll be using the time to take other good/tough classes. </p>
<p>So am I like ALLOWED to apply to those top colleges with language REQUIREMENT/RECOMMENDATION? Or like I've already placed out with my AP and SAT?
Thanks! </p>
<p>I wonder if this is going to be seen as extremely lazy. They don’t care what you are interested in studying, for the most part Ivies don’t admit by major, and the schools that do have broad requirements because they want those sort of students who are the whole package.</p>
<p>But having said that, why don’t you go, college by college and look it up? I will say that you do satisfy the UC “e” requirement through your testing. But you should double check important facts yourself and not rely on 3rd parties on websites.</p>
<p>Yes, 2-4 years of foreign language are required. Some schools may consider your native language and some don’t. But your SAT2 chinese may not be counted as the Subject test requirement. Nevertheless, the whole idea is to impress the adcom, not just fulfilling the requirements. Your situation is not impressive at all and may even give a negative impression.</p>
<p>I’m rescheduling my highschool schedule and I added three years of a foreign language. However, I am going to have to drop AP Stat and AP Bio. Are those like, necessarily, important classes? Also, for AP Econ vs AP Comp Sci, which looks better and which is tougher? Thanks!</p>
<p>AP Stat is not as useful as AP Bio if for premed track. AP Comp Sci would be more useful for STEM than AP Econ (micro & Macro). None of them are essential. </p>
<p>For foreign language, what matters is the level reached… as long as it’s not your native language! Ivies specifically prohibit this (this from a specific, direct instruction - email if you want to check for yourself) Ivies will expect you to reach level 4 or AP in a <em>foreign</em> language. It can be French, Russian, Arabic, whatever you want, and they don’t care if you did Level1 online, Level2 at COncordia language camps, Level3 in High school, and Level 4 at Middlebury Intensive Language and then AP, total, 2 years in HS, what they’ll see if that you reached AP level (plus did interesting stuff to get there).
Level1 is ususally super easy BTW (I recommend French because Level1 and 2 are a little bit harder than Spanish, but Level3 and 4 are actually easier because you have far fewer hard conjugations, and anyone can maintain an 1 in Level1 and 2 of a foreign language).
For Stem, AP Bio OR AP CS (depending on what branch of the field you’re interested in: premed or engineering?) and AP Econ (because all the tech applicants pile up the tech classes disregarding other areas whereas top schools like to see some exposure to and interest in other fields.)</p>
<p>William, what year are you in high school? Are you now trying to cram three years of language into a year or two? The problem with that is that colleges usually want to see 3-4 of the SAME language, indicating some level of proficiency and commitment. HOWEVER, there is good news and bad news about some schools, like Stanford, which I just looked up for you. The school requires 4 years of language, but MAY make an exception on an individual basis.</p>
<p>From Stanford: Application Evaluation</p>
<p>Evaluation of our applicants consists of many things, but four key and common factors are:</p>
<p>Curriculum
We do not have a required high school (or college) curriculum, but we do make recommendations. We expect freshman applicants have engaged in a rigorous curriculum and chosen from among the most demanding courses available in secondary school. It is not necessary to have loaded your schedule with every advanced course offered; but if such courses are available to you, we expect you have taken advantage of many of them. Our most competitive freshman applicants often have four years (grades 9-12) of English, four years of math (including calculus), four years of social studies, four years of science (including biology, chemistry and physics) and four years of a foreign language.</p>
<p>There is flexibility, however, in how we view an applicant’s curriculum. For example, an applicant may be competitive with just three years of a foreign language through 11th grade but also with five math courses taken in the last four years. Conversely, an applicant may be competitive taking two languages all four years and just three years of social studies.</p>
<p>While most of our applicants have enrolled in an accredited secondary school program (or college), students from schools that may not have undergone the accreditation process as of yet, as well as those with exceptional circumstances are given equal consideration.</p>
<p>@KKmama Hi! Thanks for going through the trouble and looking up for me!</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshman going to sophmore year. I took Chinese as my language this year, and finished both the SAT and AP Test. So I’m probably going to take Japanese for the next three years. Any thoughts/suggestions/advice?</p>
<p>In addition, looking from Stanford’s passage, I see that I kind of am like the example they gave. I’m more of a math and science guy, so for my next three years, I’m most likely going to double up on science every year. In addition, I will also be taking Honors Calc A, AP Calc BC, Honors Differential + Linear Alg for my next three years in that order. </p>
<p>Just a random question, how important is AP Stat? As you see, I do not plan on taking it because I’ve already have too many classes.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>What most parents and students fail to realize is that despite all the seeming options available in a high school curriculum, the core courses that the top schools want to see are very, very narrow. You can tweak them around the edges, but you need to take the heart of the core to have a fighting chance at the Top 50 schools. I can point to more brilliant kids (ACT 32+) in D’s HS class who had little to no chance at gaining admission to the Top 50 because their parents let them dodge the tough cores until it was too late to correct. Forget senior year, you need to plan junior year or even sophomore year to lay the foundation for junior year - that’s the key to getting the courses you need. </p>
<p>Without the tough cores, you will be taking your monster SAT/ACT and trading it for a full ride at School #150, not admission to HYPSM or anywhere in the Top 25. That’s not a bad result, but let’s face it, most people weren’t aiming for that.</p>
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<p>You took the highest level of high school Chinese language this year, correct? If so, getting an A in that and high AP and SAT subject scores should be appropriate for a heritage speaker language. Starting a new language and taking it for three years can look even better.</p>
<p>For UCs and CSUs, you can fulfill the application requirement with a level 2 or higher (level 3 or higher recommended) high school course, or a high enough score on the AP or SAT subject test:
<a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;
<a href=“http://www.calstate.edu/sas/publications/documents/csu-uc-a-gcomparisonmatrix.pdf”>http://www.calstate.edu/sas/publications/documents/csu-uc-a-gcomparisonmatrix.pdf</a>
However, some of the super-selective colleges may want to see you take a non-heritage language as well. In addition, if you apply to colleges wanting SAT subject tests, be sure to take that many in addition to the one of your heritage language (i.e. if a college wants two, take two others as specified, making your heritage language test the third).</p>
<p>Regarding math, if your linear algebra and differential equations courses are high school courses that are not dual enrollment with a college, you may have trouble getting subject credit and placement for them when you do go to college.</p>
<p>Statistics is used in many fields, but you have plenty of opportunity to take statistics (often a more in-depth and mathematical version than AP statistics) in college.</p>
<p>One thing my daughter did is start a new language sophomore year at Level 2. She studied Level 1 over the summer using a book and a $30 video game for vocab and pronunciations. She is one of the top students in her level 2 class, so she will make it to level 4 by her senior year, perhaps making her strong enough to take the AP exam and/or the SAT 2 and do well.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Yes, I took Honors Heritage Mandarin (highest possible) and easily got As for both semesters. SAT II is 790 and AP is most like 5 (although I might’ve got 4 oops). So my dilemma right now is to whether take a new language to be safe or try to “show my interest”.</p>
<p>@Daddio3 I thought about doing that, but then once again, language really isn’t my thing. So if I do take language, it will just be to be safe and able to apply to the top tiers.</p>
<p>What kind of future career directions are you looking at? If pre-med is a possibility, taking another foreign language common among new immigrants may be helpful as a physician. However, if you want to go into something like cryptography, knowledge of an uncommon foreign language of interest to cryptographers may be helpful.</p>
<p>For private top tiers, you will need a non heritage language up to level 4 (you do not need 4 years, but you do need to reach the level and it’s helpful to show you can reach a certain SAT Subject or a certain AP score if you don’t). For UC’s (if you’re in CA) or UT (if you’re in Texas) you’re fine with Honors Heritage Mandarin.
Having two languages at high level is considered very impressive by the way, even if your interest is science.
Statistics are useful but you’ll be able to take the class in college. It’s not a “core” class for someone who intends to take calculus.</p>