Hello,
I was wondering if you have to take a language during high school. I already speak Somali and I’m currently learning Arabic. The reason why I don’t wanna do language in High School is because they teach French, English, Chinese, German, and American Sign Language and I don’t have much interest even though I did French for 3 years. So pretty much if I am bilingual do I still have to take a langauge to get into Stanford.
Ay y’all, I see the views. But no replies. Plz answer I need to go to my counselor to drop my French class
https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/selection/prepare.html says that they recommend “three or more years of the same foreign language” but do not give any more details of how they consider languages learned other than in typical high school courses. Ask directly if you want to know more.
I couldn’t find any info, so I am asking people who have went to the school and can answer the question
Stanford has a 4.65 % acceptance rate, so I’m at a loss why applicants ask if they should submit a weaker application when they have the option to submit a stronger one.
Stanford, and its peers, are looking for candidates that have accomplished learning in an academic setting. Additional learning outside the classroom is gravy, but does not supersede HS coursework. If your 3 years of French are HS-level, then you’ve satisfied, IMO, the bare minimum, although a 4th year would be even better.
You need to take a 4th year of French and/or take the sat subject test, scoring 680+ .
Do you speak Arabic as a foreign language? Did you take classes?
You can also take external tests in Arabic to show proficiency.
Yes I speak Somali and Arabic fluently, and I am a beginner-intermediate in Korean. This will change in the next 3 years when I apply for college. I was told that Stanford would like to see students from diverse backgrounds and I am a daughter of 2 refugees that speak Somali, do you think that’s good or not?
No I learned French in Middle School, and it only brought me to French 2. I honestly don’t want to do a language that I am not interested, I thought colleges wanted to see people who weren’t being fake and were doing things because they genuinely wanted to.
Learning to speak a language at home does not take the place of learning a subject in an academic setting. When a college takes the time to guide students by suggesting appropriate HS preparation, they are doing so with the expectation that applicants will heed the advice unless extraordinary circumstances exist.
Extenuating circumstances include :
• Applicant is an international student following a curriculum that does not align with the American standard. (e.g. UK)
• Schedule conflicts preclude the student from achieving the recommendations (in which case, the GC should say so in the GC rec)
Extenuating circumstances do not include:
• The applicant chooses to double up on one core subject at the expense of another core subject
• The applicant does not like a certain subject
• The teacher of a certain subject sucks.
You don’t indicate how you learned/are learning Arabic/Korean. Certainly classes at a local community college can be used in lieu of a college’s recommendations for HS courses. Learning from a book/YouTube/app - not so much.
I learned beginner Arabic off textbooks. After learning the fundamentals of Arabic I went to learning it at a local college near my home. I am currently doing the same with Korean
Then if you will have completed 4th semester Arabic (or any other language) by the time you graduate HS, this entire thread becomes a non-issue. Good luck.
K. Thanks
Complete the 4th semester of Arabic or Korean (or both) at the community college and you’ll be ok for any College. 