<p>momochan–how many actual years in high school did he take? In our school that would be 3 high school years of Spanish. We have II, III, AP Spanish is IV and then they move on to a college level class from the University of MN for Spanish V if they take 4 years in high school. On their transcript, it shows Spanish I as being taken in 8th grade (but they really took that in 7th and 8th grade). Depending on the school’s admissions policy they may have 5 years or they may have 4 years. Really what it helps with is if colleges let you test out of lower level classes. My DH ended up testing out of 3 years of college Spanish and was able to add a Spanish major to his resume having only taken 3 or 4 college Spanish classes.</p>
<p>I doubt that a college will count her middle school language program as “2 years” of high school language, even if she is advances to French 3 in 9th grade.</p>
<p>The mantra at our high school–and I have heard this repeated by many, many college adcoms–is that what schools really want to see is each of the 5 academic subjects, for all 4 years of college. So math, lab science, social studies, english and language every year from 9th to 12th grade.</p>
<p>So regardless of what they post as requirements or recommendations, this is still what they would prefer.</p>
<p>Now, there are exceptions and certainly situations where this does not work out.</p>
<p>My own D ended up dropping math in 11th grade because she was doing poorly in pre-calculus. She picked math up again in 12th grade by taking college algebra, which is an easier class.</p>
<p>Luckily, she just got accepted ED1 to NYU as a studio art major. Her admissions rep recommended all 5 academics for 4 years, but she got in anyway. Perhaps if she were trying for a more academic program (talent was 50% of her admissions), it may have been an issue.</p>
<p>Since it is so early in the game for your D, I would keep to the straight path, which is the same language throughout high school.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is that many colleges have a language requirement. Spanish is not my D’s strength either, but she has stuck with it. AP was not an option because there was no way she would get a 4 or a 5 to receive credit or exemption for the language requirement.</p>
<p>However, our HS offers “college spanish/ spanish 5” which awards 6 college credits for a year’s class. As it turns out, NYU will accept the college transfer credit so she will have met her language requirement before entering. Now the only reason to take language will be if she travels to Italy to study art through NYU. You need to take an immersion class if you study there. Somehow, I think she will deal at that point. :)</p>
<p>“OK, so assuming colleges will count 2 years of middle school French as 2 years, we should be OK no matter what she decides.”</p>
<p>I strongly caution you against making this assumption. No college is going to think MS French would be as rigorous as a HS French class.
When DS started HS, he had already taken 2 years of Japanese in MS. But when he took the Japanese placement test for HS, he had only been taught essentially 1/2 a year of Freshman Japanese.
He decided to switch to Latin, which suited him much better.</p>
<p>“I have heard this repeated by many, many college adcoms–is that what schools really want to see is each of the 5 academic subjects, for all 4 years of college. So math, lab science, social studies, english and language every year from 9th to 12th grade.”
^agreed !</p>
<p>There is no way she will want to take a foreign language for 4 years in high school. I just can’t see it given how much she hates it now. :(</p>
<p>I would be afraid that if she stopped French after middle school, none of it would count toward a college requirement. IF she continues onto French 3, tHEN they may give credit for those courses from middle school.</p>
<p>If she really dislikes French, she can start over with another foreign language, but will need to take at least 2 years of it. Though if it’s languages she dislike, then she may be in the same position again.</p>
<p>Is it possible for her to take French 2 (again) in high school? Maybe this will be easier for her since she will probably already learned some of it from her previous classes. And it may make for an easier grade. (Don’t forget, only high school grades will be factored into her gpa.) If she does well in French 2, then she may feel more comfortable continuing on to French 3 (especially if she encounters a more compatible teacher.)</p>
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<p>AP is usually seen as fourth or higher level of the foreign language.</p>
<p>“There is no way she will want to take a foreign language for 4 years in high school.”</p>
<p>Then she will end up having to eliminate lots of colleges from her list. Is that something you are OK with now? If so, then ok.</p>
<p>“I just can’t see it given how much she hates it now”
Or maybe its time to switch to another language?</p>
<p>Why dont you tell her that 3 years of a language is probably all she will need to take, and see how things are going in 2 years?</p>
<p>menloparkmom, I think you are probably right. For some reason, I am freaking out about it right now. I need to calm down before we make any irrevocable decisions.</p>
<p>There is also the possibility of retaking French 1 and 2 in high school in 9th and 10th grade. Then her high schools grades will be on the transcript instead. Granted she hates French, but she’d be way ahead of the other students. Maybe getting a few easy As will get her to like the language.</p>
<p>If it were up to a lot of kids, they would probably choose an academic area or two to drop. D would have been very happy dropping math, science and language. She would have filled her 8- 9 period day with English, creative writing, psychology, art, music, theatre and social science classes.</p>
<p>But that is what college is about. Colleges want to see high school students who have stuck with academic subjects as a foundation to college, when they can more specialize.</p>
<p>The other thing to consider is that colleges may have a foreign language graduation requirement that is greater than the foreign language admissions requirement or recommendation. If they do, it is likely greater than the second level of high school foreign language.</p>
<p>^ yes, there is that to consider as well. :(</p>
<p>See if your high school has Latin. Our system only had Spanish or French (and Latin). S1 wasn’t into learning Spanish or French but loved Latin and took 4 years. Before you run the gauntlet with no languages (and most selective colleges want to see a language on the transcript) have her try a different one in high school if she doesn’t “like” Spanish. Most high school college prep curriculum presumes the kids will take a language in high school anyway.</p>
<p>ucb is absolutely correct. DS was able to meet his U’s language graduation requirement because his Subject test score was high enough. </p>
<p>I do strongly suggest Latin also. Learning it will greatly help her English language test scores. And since it is not nearly as common a FL as Spanish, French, Italian, it will help set her apart when it comes time for college.</p>
<p>Menloparkmom-And as Dan Quayle said, you can speak it in Latin America</p>
<p>^^^ LOL! Son did like like Latin a lot more than Japanese, but that was in great part due to the fabulous teacher who taught it!</p>
<p>Only the more selective colleges require more than 2 years of a language. My D had scheduling conflicts with a 3rd year, so I looked at a large range of possible colleges for her to see what the require/recommend numbers were, and only 1 required 3 years. </p>
<p>So, I would suggest to let your D try another language, if that is what she wants to do.</p>
<p>Queen’sMom, my son didn’t like foreign language, either! I kept suggesting languages (just do Spanish, it’s practical; how about German? It’s good for math majors? What about Chinese? etc.) He finally decided Arabic was like solving math problems (don’t ask me how!) and he’s found it to be decent enough that he wants to become fluent in college. </p>
<p>I’m sure you D can eek out two years and many colleges only require two years and those that “recommend” 4 years might be flexible.</p>
<p>Also, a year of foreign language (starting at the beginner’s course) at a community college may be seen as equivalent as two to four years of foreign language (starting at the beginner’s course) at a high school.</p>
<p>My kids both hated foreign language. DS was accepted into a very good college with only Latin 2 showing up in 9th grade. From there he always doubled up on math or science.</p>
<p>The schools around here only do french and spanish. The curriculum at their school required trying each language in 6th & 7th, then high school level in 8th. She also chose latin and as a 10th grade is in honors latin 3. So few kids take it that if enough don’t choose AP she’ll have to take honors latin 4 next year. And that will be it, there will be nothing beyond that. </p>
<p>Look into Latin, my kids also hated french and spanish.</p>
<p>5 years of Mandarin Chinese for me:)</p>