<p>My son will be a junior next year and has signed up for the following classes:</p>
<p>AP English
AP US History
AP Calculus
AP Psychology
AP Latin
Honors Spanish 5
Honors Physics</p>
<p>It is almost too late, but he CAN change his schedule if he has to. He and I discussed dropping Spanish altogether but we have just learned yesterday that after next year, there will be no more Latin classes offered. This puts him in a situation because alot of the competetive colleges want 4 straight years of a foreign language and if he drops Spanish then he will only have 3 years of Latin. He doesn't want to drop Latin because he is the founder of the school's Latin club and won't be able to be an officer if he is not enrolled in a Latin class. Will colleges understand if your school only offers Latin up to junior year or do they only see that you stopped (for whatever reason) short of senior year? Is having a double foreign language really all that helpful in college admissions like my son seems to think? Do you think I should urge him to drop one of the foreign languages (which one) or let him keep them both and drop AP Psychology (an elective) and take a study hall for once in his exhausted life? I have spoken to his guidance counselor and the upper school director, they weren't exactly helpful. I want my kid to have a challenging school year BUT I don't want him to be so overloaded if he doesn't have to be. Please advise...........</p>
<p>There is an extremely important factor you haven't mentioned.</p>
<p>What does he want to do? Which classes does he enjoy? What interests him?</p>
<p>The GC can write in the school report that Latin wasn't offered in senior year. Further, there will be no real gain from Spanish 6 in senior year. They look more for proficiency than number of years of study in high school, though I wouldn't suggest dropping all languages after sophmore year.</p>
<p>Which AP Calculus is he taking? AB or BC? AB, if taught as a full-year course, is rather slow-paced and not overly demanding. (It is the equivalent of a one-semester college course.) BC, if taught in one year, is very demanding. (It is the equivalent of a full-year college course.)</p>
<p>AP U.S. History, which is also equivalent to a full-year college course, is also very demanding and fast-paced. </p>
<p>In my opinion, taking seven academic courses, including AP Calculus (if it's BC) and AP U.S. History, would be too much for most students. </p>
<p>Your son already has four years of a foreign language -- Spanish. So if he wants to drop Spanish and just take Latin next year, I see no disadvantage.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your son consider dropping Spanish and perhaps also AP Psychology. If he's extremely interested in either of these subjects and wants to keep them, could he postpone AP US History to senior year?</p>
<p>Thanks for trying to help....
The calculus class he will be taking next year is AB, he will be taking BC senior year. His Spanish teacher recommended he take AP Spanish next year, but I insisted my son take Spanish 5 instead since he is going to be taking AP Latin (Catullus, not Vergil) not Latin 5 like he thought. 6 AP classes and no study hall is not okay with me, even 5APs and 2 honors sounds grueling. I am a little nervous about Latin anyway, because although he did well grade wise, he really struggled this year in Latin 4 - they told him he could just skip Latin 3 and go straight from Latin 2 to 4 by self studying. It was tough. I agree with you that he does not need to take AP Psych junior year. I wish he would just take a study hall instead, but he's really looking forward to it. As far as AP US History goes it is just the next class after AP World History, so he has to take it. I am torn about his dropping Spanish altogether. I think it would make his life alot easier, BUT my son really likes languages, he thinks a double foreign language will look good for college, and he lives in South Florida where he gets to use the language. That being said, if the guidance counselor could explain "no Latin offered senior year" maybe it won't look so bad. He's a good student (wants to study law some day) but he's not superman and sometimes I really worry about him.</p>
<p>First, your son already has more than four years of foreign language between the Spanish and the Latin. In that regard, he's set. </p>
<p>Second, your high school will send what is known as a School Profile with your son's transcripts.The School Profile should note the courses that are available, so colleges will know that Latin was not available next year. You can back this up by having the guidance counselor note in the school recommendation that Latin was not available.</p>
<p>Your son is in good shape. If he doesn't want to take another year of Spanish, he will still be in good shape between all of the credits of foreign language that will show on his transcript. He actually will have MORE than four years of foreign language. AP Latin will be considered the "highest level" for Latin in any case by most colleges.</p>
<p>Make sure either a teacher (best) or the guidance counselor mentions the fact that your son self-studied Latin in recommendations. Colleges appreciate applicants who have shown evidence of academic initiative like your son has.</p>
<p>Thanks so much.
I am not clear about one thing though - when the colleges say they want 4 years of a single foreign language, do they mean a student taking a foreign language class each and every year while in high school or do they look at Spanish 4 (he started at Spanish 3 freshman year since he took it in middle school) and accept Spanish 4 as year four (four years)? I thought it meant that when they look at your school transcripts they want to see (the same) foreign language fresh, soph, junior and senior year. Also, will your school's Profile show an up to date list of what is offered? My son's school used to offer more Latin classes before they lost one of their Latin teachers.</p>
<p>Many colleges don't give credit (or pay much attention to) AP Psych. Check the schools you think he may attend, but if something has to give, that and one of the language classes would be where most would say to cut back. At first glance his schedule plans seem overwhelming: cut Psych and Spanish and it's pretty do-able.<br>
APUSH has a rep for being really tough. If your kid reads and writes well and keeps up it isn't bad: my D had no problem with it as a 10th grader. If he doesn't think reading many chapters and original texts is fun, maybe cut back to an honors history?</p>
<p>Continued
Check with the college, but in my experience middle school language classes counted for half a year: Spanish in 7th and 8th grade put you into Spanish II in freshman year. I have spent many "kid-years" researching college admissions and while not a pro, have never seen one where they count anything beyond AP (whatever language) unless it's for class placement within the school once the student is admitted.</p>
<p>terry, what colleges really mean when they give their language recommendations is quite arbitrary. I don't know of any selective colleges that mandate four year as a strict requirement. </p>
<p>Most selective colleges want -- and generally get -- kids who are fluent in at least one language. If language isn't on the student's senior year schedule then it's a question of what replaced it. E.g., you wouldn't want to drop a language to take two study halls, but it would be logical and understandable to drop language in order to fit in an area of interest, either academic or artistic. All of this could be explained in the guidance counselor's letter.</p>
<p>Your son's accomplishments in Spanish and Latin would, in my opinion, cover him for any selective school so I would recommend letting him follow his inclination and not worrying about how it plays in admissions.</p>
<p>One caveat: many colleges have language requirements that kick in once you matriculate. Students either need to place out of the requirement -- either by means of a proficiency exam or an AP or IB grade -- or they need to continue to language study at college. It's important to know the rules of the schools that your son is interested in.</p>
<p>Schools want either 4 of one or 3+2 of two languages to meet college graduation requirements- college semester=high school year=middle school 2 years typically. Some (elite) schools may require a language compentency test (not the AP test), others only test if a student plans to continue the same language, for placement purposes and require nothing extra to meet the grad language reqs.</p>
<p>Glad to see your son is planning a full, challenging schedule. Happened to me, happened to my son, in different times and districts, where we couldn't take the courses theoretically available due to scheduling conflicts- don't worry about this sort of thing. Do have him take the AP exams in case he ends up in a safety where he can get college credits for them.</p>
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Check with the college, but in my experience middle school language classes counted for half a year: Spanish in 7th and 8th grade put you into Spanish II in freshman year.
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<p>Some schools still teach foreign language this way, while others teach a true Spanish I course in 7th grade and Spanish II in 8th grade. Our school system offers both options. Both of my kids took the harder option and entered 9th grade with two full levels of Spanish completed.</p>
<p>It's reassuring that your son is only taking AP Calculus AB, rather than a single-year course that covers all of AB and BC. But he still has a demanding schedule. </p>
<p>Would it be possible for him to not take Spanish this year and then take AP Spanish the following year?</p>
<p>I can't imagine any college that would consider being in AP Latin less than four or five years of the language. You are lucky that your middle school apparently does a lot better at language teaching than most. In our system two years in middle school gets you placed in second year.</p>
<p>That is an awfully challenging junior year schedule, IMO. How on earth is there time left to enjoy life after the homework? I don't mean this in a negative way ... if he WANTS to take on the load, then more power to him. However, if he is hesitant, I would suggest lightening up a bit. Kids get into competitive colleges with less demanding schedules.</p>
<p>During the competitive college info sessions we attended, adcoms warned against dropping courses. It might be better to be realistic beforehand, to keep from feeling overwhelmed & stuck. Of course, if he can handle the schedule, there is no reason not to go for it.</p>