<p>Question- My daughter has had 2 years of high school spanish. She did not take Span III as a junior as it conflicted with an AP class she wanted. She'll have 4 AP classes, and 4 years of each of the major subjects by graduation but only 2 years of a language. We're considering an online Spanish class over the summer. Does anyone feel it's THAT important? GPA is about 3.7. BC is her reach school. All others recommend 2-3 years of a language. She's got good ec's, recommendations, etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Language classes are important but not THAT important. Most colleges only require 2-3 yrs of a foreign language. As long as she has had 2yrs of Spanish, as you said, she should be fine. And the fact that she is taking 4-5 AP classes will be taken into considerations by colleges. Don't fret over language classes. She will be fine.</p>
<p>I would take the online Spanish course just to fit the requirements, but its not going to help your chances.</p>
<p>I think 3 year of second language is very important for a top school admission. UC should be fine.</p>
<p>Don't the UC's "recommend" three years of foreign language as well? I think having completed three years at the hgh school level gets you out of having to take a foreign language at the UC's. For students who are not particularly good at FL or just don't like it much, it may be better to get that out of the way in high school.</p>
<p>Three years of a language or two of two is the normal recommendation. When a school recommends something, its best to try to follow that recommendation.</p>
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Don't the UC's "recommend" three years of foreign language as well? I think having completed three years at the hgh school level gets you out of having to take a foreign language at the UC's.
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Nope. Each college (engineering, letters and science, etc) sets its own requirements, but here is a typical one from L&S at ucla
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he foreign language requirement can be satisfied by one of the following methods: (1) completing a college-level foreign language course equivalent to level three or above at UCLA or (2) scoring 3, 4, or 5 on the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) foreign language examination in French, German, or Spanish, thereby earning College credit or (3) presenting a UCLA foreign language departmental examination score indicating competency through level three.
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<p>I guess each UC is different. Better to check individually if interested in the UC's.</p>
<p>If it's a recommendation, it doesn't hurt to fulfill it. It's left for your D to decide whether it's important to her or not. </p>
<p>Personally, I'd never pass up the opportunity to continue a foreign language or learn a new one if I have the time/space and the inclination to do it.</p>
<p>I was indignant when my sister dropped French in high school, but now she's picked it up again, and she'll be going to France this summer for an immersion program. I'll happy to see her become fluent, and I'm sure it will come in handy someday, even if it doesn't figure in college admissions. I could only encourage/advise her, but ultimately, the decision was hers to make.</p>
<p>Nurseratchet, my son is in a similar boat. I contacted a couple of the schools that wanted 3 years of a foreign language, and they said it's not a hard and fast rule. Otherwise, he has excellent stats. Hopefully the language issue will not be THAT important to your D's or my S's admission situation.</p>
<p>MikeMac, I generally agree with you, but I believe that what you quoted is the UCLA language requirement for GRADUATION from the University, not the UC system-wide requirement for Admissions. The UC system does in fact "recommend" three years of foreign language for admission. Only two years are actually required as a minimum, however. (see: <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/pathways)%5B/url%5D">www.ucop.edu/pathways)</a>. The more competitive the UC in terms of admission, the wiser it is to follow or exceed the "recommended" path for the system overall.</p>
<p>To the original poster: While having only two years of foreign language won't in and of itself kill anyone's chances, it never hurts to present the strongest admissions profile possible, especially if you will be applying to schools where the majority of candidates will have very solid admissions profiles. I agree with Jrock, however: it's really up to your daughter to decide how confident she feels about her chances at the schools on her list, and whether she wants to take the summer course. However, before you sign her up for an online course, you might want to talk to her high school about whether the course can appear on her official transcript, and, if it won't, do some research into how the online school is viewed by colleges.</p>
<p>I would recommend the summer course .. you want to give your D every advantage possible.</p>
<p>just a quick question: what if you only took 2yrs of a foreign lang. in school but you speak 3 other languages fluently? Do colleges take that into account? Because after all, don't they want you to learn another language than English?</p>
<p>Carolyn, I probably wasn't clear enough in my earlier post. what I was commenting on was the observation that 3 years of HS language exempts you from having to take any language classes in a UC school in order to graduate. </p>
<p>For completeness, I should also point out that some UC colleges such as engineering don't have a foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>I think you're fine, Laraib. If the college has a foreign language requirement, you'll probably have to take a proficiency exam. But if it's just for the sake of college admissions, fluency in 3 other languages besides English is great! Most applications will ask you to list the other languages you can speak, read or write.</p>