If colleges tell you what they want in writing on their CDS, believe them. Yes, I think UVA increases the AP arms race by expecting 5 years in every subject, but maybe that is routine in FCPS. In any event, once you know, you may choose to act accordingly.
5 years and/or an AP requirement in every core area is not possible at many high schools due to non-core requirements and/or limiting AP classes to juniors and seniors. At my kids HS, AP language is the 4th year in all language except for Spanish.
What does your DS want to do?
My DS was in Latin 2 at 8th grade and now is one of two students doing IB Latin HL, I might have preferred him to drop Latin and double IB science or take IB Econ. But he loves Latin so Latin it is. It does not hurt to have an easy A in senior year either.
https://ira.virginia.edu/cds-2018-19 (section C5)
5 units of math, science, foreign language, and social studies are recommended for high school students applying to UVA.
It is entirely possible OP has no interest in UVA, I was merely using that as an example of one college that does expect foreign language throughout high school. Most colleges do not, so one should check each college of interest. Obviously admissions officers make exceptions for high schools not offering those courses, but that isn’t the case for OP.
Friends were told when visiting Kenyon College that a transcript that does not show 4 years of foreign language is considered “deficient.”
If that is the case at Kenyon then I would think it would be the case at most top liberal arts schools.
Were you personally at the presentation when the guidance counselor spoke about this? If not, I would ask the guidance counselor for clarification. There is every chance that your kid didn’t quite understand the information presented.
Potential classics major: Yes, 5 years of Latin and see about a way to get started on Attic Greek.
Not a potential classics major: 2nd or 3rd or 4th or even 5th year then done based on how much the kid likes Latin, and what is required to graduate from that particular high school.
While it might be recommended, my S19 was accepted to UVA with only 3 years of foreign language and 4 of social studies. He did have 5 or more for the math and science though and all of his social studies were AP. FL did suffer for his STEM curriculum and to stay in show choir all 4 years.
Yes, there are always exceptions. But I prefer to follow the recommended course unless there is a good reason not to do so. Kenyon states it wants 4 years of language in its CDS. I am sure some admitted students have fewer, but that is what they recommend, and likely what most competitive applicants have.