As I understand it, most admitted students have four years of foreign language. My son is a junior in Spanish 4. Will he need to go on to another year of Spanish, or will completing Spanish 4 meet the standard? What about taking another year of a different language senior year? Would that be pointless…meaning would he be better off taking a different academic class instead?
Thank you in advance!
Spanish 4 counts as having met the standard.
But he should consider taking AP Spanish his senior year, and then one semester of Spanish at UW-Madison to get up to 16 ‘retro credits’.
Four units of HS foreign language will meet the BA (BS needs 3, or for BA 4 of one or 3 of one and 2 of a second for L&S at UW) degree requirements for UW. This means he will not need any in college unless for a specific major (eg a foreign language).
Taking more Spanish is dependent on his goals and interests. Many (most?) will stop after 4 years’ worth of a HS foreign language. This frees up a time slot for another class. With 4 years the fundamentals will be learned and the 5th year is basically increasing command of a language and learning more culture. Also- it may be much better to not use college time just to get the retroactive credits. Instead - take a second one or free up time for other classes. btw- not everyone will place into a course that gives the maximum retro credits- there is a placement test the summer before to determine which level is taken at UW. No reason to spend the extra time as it is unlikely to save him a semester of college.
Regarding starting a second language- only for his own interest and there is not a class he would rather take.
My recommendation- have fun with other courses senior year. Take something he may not otherwise learn. It could be exploring that second language or whatever else fits his schedule et al. Notice I did not suggest a study hall, I’m not in favor of them for good students (son first had one second semester senior year because he ran out of classes that fit his schedule and was interested in and mine were required- what a waste of time).
Thank you for your helpful replies. I really appreciate it. My son has an uw gpa of 3.75…up until now. He is really struggling this semester. There are less than two weeks left in the semester, and he currently has 4 A’s, 2 B’s and 2 B-'s. So much for the “upward trend”. He goes in for extra help and he has met periodically with a Spanish tutor and a math tutor.
I mention AP Spanish because if he doesn’t need it, I’m not sure he can do well enough in it to make it worth it. He has had A’s in Spanish through the first sem. of Spanish 3 last year, then a B second sem. This year in Spanish 4, he was hanging in there with a B, despite C’s on most quizzes, but scored a D on the one big test so far, and that pretty much cemented his B- for the semester.
I’m not sure UW-Madison is in the cards for him…
Quit Spanish after this year. I recommend this to every student who is not planning to continue with the foreign language in college, even if they are getting top grades. In college there are plenty of other languages to study and many other courses to take up that 4 credit slot.
Of more concern for you/your son are his junior year grades. This is the last year colleges will see when he applies next fall. Need to figure out why the grades are less. Is the more advanced material more difficult for him? btw- do not tell us the answers, these are for you to consider. Has he reached a point where there is a lot of new material/concepts/et al whereas before he already knew a lot of it? Has he discovered other things- such as surfing instead of spending the time he is supposedly working on homework? Attitude shift? So many reasons. It sounds like you and he need a nonthreatening discussion about how things have changed. My gifted son’s grades went from all A’s to a mix- and senior year, sigh. He was bored and no longer tried to get the grades. Stubborn, strong willed… By now that’s ancient history and he’s (finally) old enough to understand and have some regrets (did get the honors degree from UW, however).
Teen years are tough. You may find UW is your goal for your son and not his at this time. It may be worth approaching things with getting better grades, doing more et al does not mean he needs to apply to UW.
Good luck.