How important is foreign language to highly selective schools? I am finishing my sophmore year with Spanish III( I have an A), and I am dropping it next year and replacing it with G+T Engineering to fufill my technology credit. Will this be seen in a negative light at high tier colleges? My schedule next year also has 4 AP periods,Physics and band. I am particularly interested in the effect it will have at Cornell, Penn, Duke, Chicago and Dartmouth. Thanks to all!
<p>Someone told me that a Yale representative said that they strongly like 4 years of the same language, which is why I'm taking AP Spanish next year.
Maybe you should take the tech credit when you're a senior? Then you'll have 4 years of language.</p>
<p>I could take the equivalent of Spanish 4 at a community college in the spring, will that work?</p>
<p>For the schools you mention 3 years is the minimum requirement, but four years is recommended by them. I would always be sure to do the recommended requirements unless you have a very good reason, especially when applying to the schools at the level you mention. It is seen as doing the minimum. It may not matter if you are a stellar candidate in all other areas. I just know dd gave up a lot of desired courses and electives to do all the recommended for the super reach schools.</p>
<p>will the community college course count as year 4, and thus will fufill the recomeneded amount?</p>
<p>Sure it will count as 4 as long as it is the next level and a full year cirruculum, inother wise the college equivalent of AP Foreign Language. FYI, in The GateKeepers, when applications were reviewed in committee, everyone who did not have 4 years lang and everyone who did not have chem/physics/bio were flagged and commented on.</p>
<p>Well, it works like this: there are two courses, intermediate 1, and 2, each of which is one semester long. they are the "equal" of Spanish 4 and 5 respectivly. I just don't want to start until the second semester, with intermediate 1, b/c the first half of next year is going to be ridiculuos for me anyway. Will that work, if I wait a semester before starting?</p>
<p>Well I don't really know, but I do know think it is important to take lang year 4 and also the 3 sciences. You also have senior year, so you can take the lang or another requirement then it doesn't matter when you take it first semester 2nd semester sr year etc (the colleges don't have a technology requirement, so that is less important.) don't you have a advisor or guidance counsellor or parent to go over strategy with? It seems with that load that an extra CC class is too much. You really shouldn't over load. You should focus on High School classes unless your school does not offer AP's or you exceed the levels at your school.</p>
<p>For foreign language, does a year that you took in middle school, like French I in 8th grade, then French II in freshman year... to French IV in Jr year count as 4 years?</p>
<p>Wait a minute. :/// If I only take 3 years of Spanish ( oo;;; By senior year I will be taking Spanish III because freshman year I took Latin I...transferred to a different highschool that has no Latin only Spanish and French), then all the ivys won't accept me...:/? Am I right or not? ><;;; Parents won't pay for summer school for me to take Spanish in order to get Spanish 4 by senior year....</p>
<p>sunshine.... I had the same question.....can any one answer?</p>
<p>sunshine & PC,
Well, even if the colleges "count" only the h.s. yrs., that will be counterbalanced by the higher level in an earlier h.s. yr. Fourth-yr. French is 4th Yr. French, no matter when you take it. That also makes it possible to take AP French (called French 5 in some h.s.'s) in Sr. Yr. If you're a humanities type, I recommend that 5th yr., btw. If you don't need it (& from the h.s.'s point of view, you probably don't), then substitute something in Sr. Yr. that is very much your "love" & that correlates with your focus, or is a special opportunity.</p>
<p>That's what my D did with regard to math. She took Algebra in 8th grade & had finished an AP math course by end of Jr. Yr., so she (& her h.s.) considered herself "done" with h.s. math. She skipped math Sr. Yr. to concentrate on special courses in her field, being offered at her school. It had no negative effect on her admissions results, despite the earlier concerns of one of the administrators at her school, who questioned how her Sr. course list would be received by colleges.</p>
<p>Sneakie,
I would explain your predicament regarding languages & transfer, on your college apps.</p>
<p>There are two issues here: the level of language you need to get in and the level that you need to take once you're in.</p>
<p>Selective colleges like kids with second language proficiency, which usually means three or four years of highschool study. This is not a hard and fast rule but in competitive admissions it can help. My son, who hates language study, had two years each of two languages. He is conversational in the first, a language taught at very few colleges, and pathetic in the second, which he planned to continue at college. In the end, it didn't seem to matter much in admissions.</p>
<p>You should also think about what will happen once you get in. Some colleges have no language requirements. These were high on my son's list. Some require you to take a placement test and then depending on how you do take the equivalent of two years language at the college level. At rigorous colleges, this can be a curriculum killer, so if you're weak in languages, pay attention to what you're getting into.</p>
<p>Thank you Epiphany!</p>
<p>im sorry this is kind of off topic, but the op has pretty much had an adequate answer already anyway, so...</p>
<p>the person who mentioned the gatekeepers reminded me of this:</p>
<p>i have taken earth/space science honors, biology honors, and chemistry honors. for my senior year, would it be better to take AP chemistry or physics honors? i was planning on AP chemistry, but would physics honors be better (due to scheduling constraints, taking both is <em>not</em> an option)?</p>
<p>any responses are appreciated!</p>