For what it’s worth, my daughter (21) got into Wesleyan with only 2 years of a foreign language (although she switched schools for 11th-12th grades and the new school didn’t offer Latin, the language she’d taken in 9th-10th, which her counselor supposedly noted in his letter).
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My earlier reply disappeared…
But, in a nutshell: I would take the bet. Risk does exist, but it’s a degree between good and better, and it may not matter. Taking AP Art History with a beloved teacher trumps that possibility, its appreciation is certain, sacrificing it for an uncertain outcome or almost for no reason since not gerting into highly selective universities despite sacrificing AP Art History is a real possibility.
In addition, there may be a no-risk possibility:
Taking French 201 or 202 at a local community college Spring 2022, through Dual Enrollment. As a DE class it’d be listed on her Common App list of courses for the year, she would be able to take AP Art History, and she would have more time for her applications in the Fall.
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Love this idea! Can always pull the plug on the spring French class later if it turns out not to be a need.
I do get what people are saying, about covering every base in hopes of giving the most competitive schools every possible reason to offer acceptance. But I also feel like senior year of HS is an important time to be taking control of one’s own life, both through the college application/decision process, and in starting to make these decisions about which things to say “no thanks” to. Kids are stretched SO thin these days, and I worry about conveying this anxiety about the possible costs of prioritizing, setting limits, and choosing quality of life. If we teach kids to be afraid of saying no to things they don’t want, where does that lead for them in college and beyond?
Granted, an Honors French class isn’t necessarily such a terrible thing to endure for a possible payoff (although you’ll never know whether it made a difference, regardless of the outcome). But IMHO there comes a time for a kid to say, “This is not for me, and if that turns out to be why Princeton doesn’t want me, then Princeton isn’t for me either.” This is a student who will get into terrific colleges, and she can only go to one. At some point, the terror of not getting into every single one isn’t a good enough reason to acquiesce to commitments she doesn’t want.
At least the spring community college class idea kicks the can down the road, allowing the decision to be made at a time when more information is available… and freeing up time and head-space in the fall to write the best possible applications - a factor that ultimately could make more of a difference than French 4.
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Agreed, but do keep in mind the FL requirements of any college she is serious about. It is possible that finishing with French 3 in her junior year will cause her to need a full year of college FL instruction, crowding out more desirable courses in college. While I am sure AP art history at high school is a fine course, she might like the room to take it in college.
If I had to guess, she will miss out on more in college if she is stuck on French language courses
I am so glad you came back and posted your idea again. I think it’s brilliant! We have a great community college nearby and she could really benefit a lot by having a free fall semester with more time for her applications. She’s never done DE since our high school offers so many AP courses, so it didn’t even occur to me.
And as @aquapt says, it buys her a little time for her apps, and she might be able to drop it if she gets good ED results and the school is OK with it. She might be more excited to go through with it at the community college though—she has had the same French teacher for 3 years in a row and she’s a little tired of her (very small French program at her high school).
Most schools she is applying to do have a language requirement—except for Smith with its open curriculum.
Thank you!!!
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Dropping a class senior year or spring semester would not be taken well by colleges, and something they would look for. Admission, even ED, is conditional on completing the courses the applicant said they were taking senior year.
Hence the qualifier, “if the school is okay with it.”
My daughter had completed Calc BC as a junior but had still not finished up the second half of her self-paced online geometry class. This class was on her applications as a planned class for senior spring. (Argh.) Once she committed to a college that didn’t require the class (as UC’s would have), she contacted admissions and asked if it would be a problem if she let it go. They said they didn’t care, and that was the end of geometry.
You have to ask. They may care. They may not.
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Online geometry and honors French, especially if it’s in-class are pretty different. Colleges will definitely care if you claim you took four years of foreign language and you didn’t. Agree you should contact the college, but for non-stem majors, foreign language is pretty important. That’s why the GC is saying to explain it, as it’s possible the GC may think the applicant is not taking the most rigorous course load compared to their peers and would indicate that. The OP needs to find out why the GC thinks that it’s something that needs explaining.
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Unless I misunderstood, I don’t think it was the GC who wanted to explain, but rather some posters on this thread.
What classes may she be taking beside French and AP Art History?
Overall, she should have 6, and among the 4 she should have English, 1 math, possibly 1 science, possibly 1 more social science/history.
Even if she does take the DE French class (level 3, college level) in the Spring and doesn’t drop it, it keeps her Fall schedule lighter.
The rest of her schedule is very rigorous—AP Lang, AP Chem, AP Calc AB, AP Econ, AP Art History, and Advanced Journalism, where she is the News editor for the school paper (this requires a lot of work outside of class too)
I have shared as many facts with her as I have. And she is very firm in her desire to stop French right now. She is willing to consider a DE class in the spring, but I think she has drawn a boundary and she is sticking to it. I’m proud of her. She’s sticking up for her needs and I respect that.
Thank you to everyone in this thread. You’ve been really thoughtful and I appreciate it!
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[quote=“Wjs1107, post:29, topic:3548594”]
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. [/quote]
Anyway it looks like the OP’s daughter has decided not to take French.
Drop AP art history
Ah, sorry, missed it.
Yes, looks like she made her choice.
The GC is saying " scheduling conflict with other rigorous, core classes" so I think it’ll be fine since it’s the only “acceptable” reason.
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Reading this with interest. My D22 is in a similar boat. She decided to take AP Stats as an “elective” instead of AP Spanish, but for a different reason. At our high school, the only option after Spanish 3 is AP Spanish. She was online all year last year (she was one of a handful at our mid-sized public school who went back for the last few weeks 2 days/week) but hasn’t had in person Spanish since March of 2020 - midyear thru Spanish 2.
If we had a Spanish 4 Regular or Honors, and the teacher could tailor the curriculum to address the clear gaps that these kids have (and her teacher did great, but language over Zoom is NOT the same thing), that would be a great option, but since AP Spanish is a set curriculum, it seems highly unlikely that she would be able to keep up. She also plans to take a different language in college, I think.
Meanwhile, they have combined AP Spanish and Spanish for Native Speakers, and every kid who is not a native speaker has now dropped it this semester. She plans to note some of the above on her app, at least for schools that expect 4 years of a language.
I guess it wouldn’t be too late for her to consider taking an online course (I’m thinking she is over that, though) or a community college one, but even with just 5 classes this year (normal for seniors here) + sports + XCs + apps, that seems almost impossible…
She should do no such thing; let the GC explain. “Explanations” by applicants invariably sound whiny.
Good to know. I assume it would be ok to have her meet with her GC (who she really doesn’t know well) to ask for that? I doubt she would note that on her own especially since there are no Non-Native speakers in that class at her school now.
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Yes indeed
In my search for language courses, I came across Language Bird, which is a private, 1-on-1 language class with accredited lessons. It’s not super cheap, but it wasn’t crazy expensive either, particularly given that it can be completely personalized and scheduled around the time you have available. In case that helps!
At $2275 for 24 1- hour lessons, I would say not. Holy smokes
Assuming the HS accepts for credit.
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I respectfully disagree with this statement.
With more schools going test optional and so many students striving for high gaps, it is important to place the GPA in context to the work taken. Filling out the form makes the differentiation that all 4.0s are not created equally.
Our guidance staff communicates to students and parents day one, what students course work should look like in order to get the most rigorous designation. (At my school you will not get it if you don’t have a combination of college and AP courses including AP Language and culture).
Yes, student should take the 4th year of French. Since where I live students can get HS credit for foreign language in middle school, 3 years of Spanish is necessary for an advanced regents diploma.