<p>i took a few years of french, skipped into AP french. now my school thinks that since i skipped a level, i should be moved back down, into a non-AP class. essentially, they're kicking me out.</p>
<p>i know this sounds horrible, but if i'm not in AP french i'd rather not take french at all and take a different interesting ap class instead.</p>
<p>i currently have 2 years of french experience. i know that the level i skipped covered a lot of important areas, and i am struggling a bit in AP french. but if i work hard enough i think i CAN catch up.</p>
<p>should i switch into a different AP class or just take the lower french level?</p>
<p>i am shooting for the top schools such as ivies. do they care if you only went up to a certain language level? only took a few years of it?</p>
<p>please help me because i'm in a huge predicament!!</p>
<p>blue, there are two separate issues here: what it takes to get in and what it takes to graduate once you matriculate. </p>
<p>The first is variable. Many colleges recommend 3 or even 4 years of a single language. In most cases, however, this recommendation can be circumvented if language study is replaced by something equally valuable. Bear in mind though, that most of your competition will have taken 4 years+ and will be fluent in one or more languages. </p>
<p>Some colleges have language requirements for graduation; some do not. Usually you "place in or place out" based on your AP, IB, SAT scores or the college's own placement test. If you're not up to their standard you may end up taking college level language, which at a rigorous college can be daunting if you are language challenged.</p>
<p>If this is an issue for you look for colleges that have open curiculums or at least no language requirements. Some examples would be Brown, Amherst, Williams. There are others.</p>
<p>It's difficult to give you individual advice without knowing your year, but I'd say, in general, 2 years of French is not enough for the most selective colleges.</p>
<p>i have 2 years of french in high school, and 1 year in junior high. 3 total</p>
<p>can't that be enough? can't schools still accept me even if i stopped at 3rd year french? why do languages have to matter so much anyway?</p>
<p>i REALLY would want to take ap french, but my teacher is super biased and she essentially told me that if i took it, she has "enormous concerns" and practically implied she would give me a bad grade. so i'm stuck.</p>
<p>and it's not like i'm super fluent in french either; i just took it because people told me fourth year french was really boring and i guess it is, and that's a big reason i don't want to take it. but another thing is that it's not AP - i know it sounds snotty, but generally in my school, if it's not AP, it's a boring, sleepy class. but for some reason the school thinks that its really important.</p>
<p>what do i do? if i switch into a different AP i'll be stuck without languages and colleges will hate me. if i insist to let me stay my teacher will hate me and give me a bad grade and make my life hell. if i go down a level i'll be so bored and my GPA and ranking will suffer.</p>
<p>If you have what the type of accomplishments it takes to get into an ivy, having your 3rd year of language not be AP won't be a deal breaker. But do take the third year because it is the minimum your competition will have. Especially if you'll also be applying to top state U's which really expect a formula. The only argument against would be if your strength in math/science and you're using the time to take college level classes far beyond what your high school offers. Even then, most of the competition has done both. It sounds like your teacher has had some time to see that you're missing some fundamentals and has been kind enough to let you know she does not see you doing well in the class. You will have to do some boring things all of your life to achieve the bigger picture.</p>
<p>yes i understand this but i already have 3 years of language. does it need to be language in the high school? i took one in middle school. ugh, this is so frustrating! i don't want to take the boring class, and it's going to drop my class ranking soo much. seriously, all the kids in my grade are taking practically all-ap course loads and one slip means shooting down a long line. ugh.</p>
<p>are there any stories of kids who DIDN'T take languages, even when their schools offered them, and still got accepted?</p>
<p>does this really have to contribute to a certain "formula" for admissions? no language, no admissions?</p>
<p>i was planning on quitting my senior year anyway, because i would have gotten too busy. this would have been my last year; i just really didn't want a bad grade in the class, that's what worries me!</p>
<p>the other option would be to struggle through it and just deal.... but that makes me really nervous. it's not a "guaranteed a" like my other classes, because the other students actually have a head start and know a little more than i do.</p>
<p>My youngest child who just started at an ivy finished AP language junior year and got 5's on the two related AP tests. He wanted to take a second language senior year and his counselor insisted he advance in the one language if he wanted the best package for top colleges. She explained the importance of showing mastery and academic depth.</p>
<p>it sounds as though you know you <em>should</em> take the language but don't want to.
it all depends on your priorities. if your goal is a top-tier college, you will need several years of one foreign language. and no, middle school does not count. if you aren't interested in french, then don't take it. just know that you will have to be outstanding in something else in order to account for that weaker part of your application.
you can also take a language at a community college rather than at the school. it may be a bit costly but it's all up to you.
no one's going to tell you exactly what you want to hear. you need to make a decision so you aren't aggravated about flip-flopping. one way or another, you'll be fine.</p>
<p>Why don't you take the third year of french and self-study for the AP test at the same time? You'll have the years of the language you'll need, you won't be bored, and you may earn AP credit that fulfills a college requirement.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh. I see; it's about rank.... Can you take first year french at a community college in place of the third high school year and also pick up another AP?</p>
<p>while that is a reasonable option, i maintain what i have said before: fourth year french is a horrible class where students sleep through it and kills your gpa and class ranking. ap french is more interesting.</p>
<p>i was thinking of taking a different class instead but taking an online ap french course, maybe through a community college or something. would colleges consider this as a "year of foriegn language?"</p>
<p>It really is sad on many levels, but getting into top colleges is a game, one that needs to be played with skill and the knowledge that it's a game. Your competition will have the I's dotted and the T's crossed. They will suffer through classes they didn't want to take, volunteer more hours than they really wanted to, stayed in sports they wanted to quit and took a bunch of summer college classes when they wanted to go to the beach.</p>
<p>You need to decide if you want the college enough to play the game. If you don't there are many other excellent colleges you can attend. What you probably can't have, however, is it all.</p>
<p>If you think you will be able to get an A in AP French then argue to stay in. But if you can't get an A, and you're shooting for Ivies, I think it would be better if you went to the prep class. After all, a B, let's say, in an AP class is the say amount of credits as an A in a prep class, right? Then take the AP class in senior year. Toughen up: is a boring class really /that/ hard to sit through?? But I doubt that your French teacher will fail you on purpose. As long as you're up to par, why would she do that?</p>
<p>If you want to get into an Ivy League school, you should have AT LEAST 3 years of HS language, preferably 4. Sorry, middle school doesn't count.</p>
<p>Calm down. There are plenty of Ivy hopefuls whose schedules can't accomodate foreign language to the AP level. They make it to level 4 and it's OK. </p>
<p>If you were my kid, I'd tell you to take level 4 and expect you to bring home an A. (I'd also tell you to quit whining about it.)</p>
<p>My daughter took 3 years of Spanish in HS. The last class she took was AP Spanish. She was required to take a foreign language placement test at Cornell. She did well enough that she only had to take one semester of Spanish at Cornell to complete her foreign language requirement. I don't know about other schools, but foreign language is pretty important at Cornell, and they would like to see 3-4 years of it in HS.</p>
<p>Sounds like the teacher is telling you that you are going to find it too difficult to catch up. I doubt that 4th year French is really all that boring, since the kids who eventually take AP French are in it. If your real worry is being bored, get some French novels and read them to challenge yourself. If your real worry is boosting your rank by taking another AP...that's hard to figure, since presumably all of the other top students will also have the usual years of language on their transcripts.</p>
<p>Knowledge of multiple languages is a very valuable skill.</p>
<p>i'd like to revive this topic. since the last time it was posted i have still been in ap french. i've been thinking about switching down for a long time and if i'm going to do this it has to be this week.</p>
<p>this is going to hurt my class rank, inevitably. now i'm wondering how much class rank plays into admissions. any thoughts? i'm currently ranked #2 but i could drop significantly, down to like #15 or so of i drop down. i need some feedback.</p>