Not taking a foreign language senior year? (For competitive admissions)

Applying to College
21

Congratulations!! Did she have a change of heart after her summer and pursue French in college? Did she choose UVA or Princeton?

22

As you know, she, like every other applicant, is a long shot at the very top schools. If she gets denied, will you always wonder if it was due to French? If so, your answer is clear. If not, enjoy art.

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23

Thre are a few schools that “recommend” or “highly recommend” four years. Very few.

And for those, I suspect four years vs. three years and an AP course instead would be a wash.

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24

Nope, it is not a wash, though as you said, it applies to very, very few schools. However, OP said she was applying to some of those schools

25

I am not an expert, but I think doing a course she isn’t interested in would be a waste of time for her and the teacher.
I also wanted to say, after reading your description of her, did you look at Emerson while you were in Boston? Seems like a school she would like.

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26

I think that it is very important to look at what the potential college graduation requirements are for her possible colleges. If you don’t like FL, you really don’t want to have to take it in college.

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27

If you and she are really worried and really attached to her tippy-top choices, then suck it up with 7 classes for the first semester, and then see where you are. If she’s gotten into a top choice in the early cycle, then ask them if it would be acceptable to drop French. If not, then reassess how important it is for the apps that are still active.

However, apps themselves take a ton of time, so not having seven classes in the fall could be a big help in that regard.

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28

This is an interesting idea—dropping it for her last semester. Thank you!

29

Yes, i think it’s most concerning for the super selective schools. They all have a language requirement for graduation. It’s a good point that she’ll either be super rusty after a year off or she might start with a new language she finds more interesting when she gets to college.

Her counselor thinks that dropping French can be explained in her application—that she really wanted to take AP Economics and AP Art History and felt her curiosity and interests led her to choose them over French. It’s not like she’s being a slouch—other than only having 6 classes rather than 7.

I guess my thought is if you’re going to aim for the lottery school, go all in, don’t leave anything that is within your control to chance. But then—I don’t have to take 7 classes, including one I’m not excited about, and try to apply to college, and do all my ECs.

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30

I don’t think it needs explanation but if I were to use one, it’d be what you just said - she wants to try another language.

In the end, there are scheduling conflicts and the schools know this.

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31

(Edited bc posted twice, not sure why).

32

@MYOS1634 I don’t see your first post?

33

@CC_Mike here is an example. @MYOS1634 apparently posted twice…neither post is here.

34

I bet what probably happened is that myos saw two posts when she posted (maybe one of them being grayed out) but there really weren’t two there. Then, deleted one (the only one) thinking there was a double post.

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35

I can see my last post twice – one is grayed out. It does look like a double posting.

36

Nvm

38

These duplicates (that really aren’t duplicates) have been a thing in the last few days.

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39

Yes.
I also had duplicate listings of bookmarks…most notably the one from the now closed undocumented FAFSA poster. Like I needed to see that twice in my bookmarks.

I deleted one…and the other remained.

I also had regular font posts appear twice on a couple of responses yesterday.

Plus, the responses were way out of time order!

40

I wouldn’t explain it as others have suggested, but if the GC thinks it should be explained, that could mean it’s a possible concern.

41

Thanks – and I agree. it’s a possible concern… but she’s definitely digging in her heels. I have tried to lay it out in a very straight forward, fact-based way so as not to ignite her, but I also feel kind of bad about it. This is a kid who has worked so, so hard for the last 2 years in particular and she wants this one thing to make her life seem more fun and less daunting senior year. It’s hard to tell her that she might look down the road a couple of years and wish she had just stuck with French as a senior (mostly because she could possibly test out of FL requirements in college and be done with it).