<p>All of your advice on your brilliant kids wanted here. How many years of Spanish would you recommend? Took Spanish l honors in 8th, and Spanish ll honors as a freshman. Do you think she needs a 3rd year as a Sophmore? Do colleges actually count 8th grade Spanish? Wants to study law and does track and cheer. Thank you kindly in advance.</p>
<p>2 years are required for most schools, and they like to see 3, so I'd say yes.</p>
<p>nitnat, this is a frequent topic on CC, so you might do a search to find more opinions. Basically there are two issues here: What you need to get in and what you need to graduate after you matriculate.</p>
<p>For admissions, most colleges recommend 3 years of the same foreign language. This is not carved in stone and is quite variable by college. If you choose not to take a language, a lot depends on what you *do *take instead. But be forewarned, the other applicants, especially at highly selective colleges will be language adept.</p>
<p>Then the second consideration is what you need to get OUT of college. Some colleges have specific language proficiency requirements; some do not. Those that do will require you to test in or out of continued language study. They often use the SAT or AP scores as determining factors or they administer their own test. If you don't place out, you will have to take college level language.</p>
<p>Other colleges have NO language requirement (or no requirements at all for anything).</p>
<p>Believe it or not, financial aid also comes into play for this question. For example, some states have differing levels of aid eligibility depending on the course load taken in HS. In some cases, 3 years is considered minimum for ACG or state sponsored programs</p>
<p>Most schools recommend (and some require) that the student complete Spanish (or French or Latin...whatever) THREE...not TWO. In other words, they want the student to complete the proficiency of the Spanish THREE. I would say that your student should complete Spanish THREE.</p>
<p>Late in the sophomore year is too early to start closing doors, and not taking a third year of Spanish could be a potential strike against your S or D at some of the highly competitive schools. Is there a compelling reason to stop language study after two years? It'll also probably mean starting over at the beginning level in college if there's a language requirement.</p>
<p>I'd highly recommend taking three years of Spanish, too many colleges want to see it. Some would prefer to see four. In addition quite a few colleges do have language requirements, though there was a recent thread about the number of colleges that don't have language requirements.</p>
<p>Most elite colleges want 3 years of a language, state schools want a minimum of 2. The important thing here: YEARS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TAKEN IN MIDDLE SCHOOL DO NOT COUNT. So far as a college is concerned, your D only has ONE year of Spanish right now, regardless of her completing Spanish II Honors.</p>
<p>We are having this same argument with DD right now. She's a sophomore in Spanish 3 and does not want to take Spanish 4. Her Guidance Counselor told her that not taking a third year of high school Spanish would put her at a disadvantage, and strongly recommended she sign up for Spanish 4 next year. GC said colleges do not count courses taken in middle school.</p>
<p>So to me, there is no question your daughter needs to take Spanish 3 and probably 4 as well, depending where she wants to go.</p>
<p>Also, most colleges do have a foreign language/culture requirement as part of their curriculum, some simply require a number of semesters, others require students to get to a certain level of proficiency. If your D has to start over at the beginning level of a language in college that may mean she has to use up some valuable electives on language that she might prefer to have available for other classes.</p>
<p>crossposted with Lafalum84 </p>
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Took Spanish l honors in 8th, and Spanish ll honors as a freshman. Do you think she needs a 3rd year as a Sophmore?
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<p>The Spanish l honors in 8th grade does not count unless it is on the high school transcript. In NYC it is not unusual for kids to take this level spanish and take the state proficiency exam where the results show up on the high school transcript.</p>
<p>Your child should take the 3 years of spanish at the high school level and take the SAT II in the language. In addition if they take AP spanish and get a 4 or 5 on the exam, they could end up actually meeting their foreign language requirement in college.</p>
<p>Nitnat,
The only reason your child should not complete Spanish III, IMO, is if she wanted to start a new language in grade 10 that she will continue through grade 12.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>YEARS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TAKEN IN MIDDLE SCHOOL DO NOT COUNT. So far as a college is concerned, your D only has ONE year of Spanish right now, regardless of her completing Spanish II Honors.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Depends on the college. BOTH of my kids took Honors Spanish 4 as high school sophomores. AND both of them never took Spanish in 11th or 12th grade. AND both of them got into (and attended) colleges that required three years of foreign language and recommended 4. The key was that they had completed Spanish FOUR. </p>
<p>I'm not saying that ALL colleges share this view, but EVERY school both of my kids applied to agreed that they had completed their recommended HS foreign language requirement. BUT we did call, and we did ask. AND both of my kids had a sense of the schools they were at least thinking about. If you have a question about this admittance requirement, call a few schools and ASK THEM. My guess is you will get a variety of answers. Some will say that completing Spanish 3 counts the same regardless because the student has taken the course that is third year proficiency. Others may want all 3 years of the foreign language to be taken during the HS years. Ask a few colleges. The 13 we dealt with accepted that Spanish 4 completed in 10th grade fulfilled their requirements...but not every school may feel the same.</p>
<p>Don't know about elsewhere, but the Latin I class my son took in middle school was a high-school level course and shows up on his high school transcript as a high school language credit. (The high school math he took in middle school shows up on his high school transcript as high school credit, too, and counts toward high school diploma requirements.)</p>
<p>Great advice, so happy to found this site!...I did not know that 8th grade Spanish I Honors will not transfer for college. Thanks again so much! Keep the posts coming...</p>
<p>I agree with Thumper.
For instance my older daughter began Spanish in middle school after two years of Latin so in 8th grade she took Span1 and continued through Spanish 5 in high school. Given that the strongest academic record that is APPROPRIATE, will give you broader choices upon graduation- I would recommend to continue taking the language if offered.</p>
<p>Her sister however, attended different schools and in middle school had " weaker" language offerings. While in middle school, she took languages alongside high school students, when she changed schools for 9th grade, she was obligated to start with Spanish one. She took through Spanish three as a junior, albeit junior year the class was taught by substitutes ( who are not certificated in Spa) and so for senior year, she did not feel prepared enough to take AP Spanish which was the next class. But still on her transcript three years of Spanish.
Unless there is a dyslexia ( and then I would suggest ASL for a language), go for as much language as you can handle. it's good for more than getting into college. :)</p>
<p>when you say three years of a language, does that mean three YEARS, like freshman, sophomore, junior years? or through LEVEL 3? because i am finishing level 3 as a sophomore and i’m not taking level 4 junior year, i have my graduation requirements and i don’t really like spanish anyways. but i would take level 4 if it would be better for my application.</p>
<p>In my opinion it is very important to take a year of Spanish III.</p>
<p>I would also point out:</p>
<p>In college, a year of a language means something, but in HS they generally go about half as fast (take 2 years to finish a textbook vs. 1 year in college). So a student who has finished Spanish II in HS really has just begun the study of the language. They need at least another year to have a better understanding and remember more in the long run.</p>
<p>How about if a high school student took two years of FL at high school and another two years from a community college? Will that count for four years of foreign lauguage as far as college application is concerned?</p>
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<p>your application will be stronger with 4 years.</p>
<p>Also, do you know what schools you are looking at? Some have a language requirement. Sometimes your requirement can be completed if you take 4 or 5 years of a language during high school. If you only take 3 years of Spanish, and the college you go to has a language requirement, you will have to take at least one more semester. So, you might have to jump into the 4th semester of Spanish (1 high school year = 1 college semester) after not having taken any Spanish for 2 years.</p>
<p>Too true. Neither my son nor my daughter were able to pass out of the language requirement at their college after having 3 and 4 years of a foreign language and I think it’s because both had a year break before the college testing. They made the requirement for entering college but needed the year of College foreign language for the College graduation requirements.</p>