My S is a 9th grader, and we are an English-only family. He was in Spanish dual language schools from K-8. He is now in a STEM magnet high school, and is taking the AP Spanish Language class. They offer the AP Spanish Lit, but he doesn’t want to take it next year.
The school doesn’t offer any other language - if they did he would take one. Does he need to take the AP Span Lit to fulfill the basic college requirement?
I would talk to the guidance counselor at the school. Certainly your child is not the first to encounter this issue. Ask if taking AP as a freshman and nothing after seemed to impact college admission. Your child is in a unique position of not having another option at their school other than a literature course. That is different than a student who takes Spanish 1 and stops when there are other options available.
Maybe there is a local community college that offers more language options?
I second talking to the guidance counselor. I expect he is fine especially since no other foreign languages are offered at the HS.
The years of foreign language generally refers to the highest level course taken. FWIW completion of AP Spanish is considered the fifth level of the language in my kid’s HS.
It is very college dependent. What I found is that most schools want at least 50% of the foreign language to be in high school. Two years in junior high and two in high school would be viewed as four years. Two years in junior high and one in high school would not be viewed as three years.
This is very college dependent.
Yes, that is what I wrote. My kids took two years of foreign language in junior high. When I researched how much they needed to take in HS, I found that most schools wanted at least 50% in high school.
Are there no other foreign languages at all? Maybe he could take 2 years of another language?
If he has any ideas about colleges he’s interested in another thing you could do is reach out to an admissions counselor at the university.
My D22 had a schedule conflict at her very small high school and couldn’t take Chemistry. When we went on a college tour the summer before junior year (or maybe 10th grade) we asked the Admissions folks and they said it was okay for their college.
It can be different for different colleges though.
Some colleges care about their “recommended” years of certain course work more than others.
The concern for some colleges may be he then has three years without a language. Perhaps see what he scores on the test and then look at taking Spanish 201 and 202 one summer. That would certainly meet the equivalent. My d had to do that with Latin due to scheduling conflicts. She did not worry about dual enrollment, she just submitted that transcript.
Most colleges do care about the level reached. Completing the AP level course will satisfy any level reached requirements or preferences.
Some colleges also like to see more years completed while in high school. However, this is not always obvious from their web sites. If that is a concern, then taking AP Spanish literature or a college Spanish course based on his placement (many colleges will use AP Spanish scores to recommend placement) would help for that.
If starting a new language in 10th grade, it is probably best to continue it through level 3 (or level 2 at the minimum) in order to make a difference to a college admission reader.
What is your son planning on taking instead of foreign language for the next three years? Is he packing his schedule with other core academic courses or is he adding sports and electives?
Although your son is only a 9th grader, do you have a sense whether he will be looking at the most competitive schools? For say, the T30, I would definitely advise taking more language classes online or at a community college. After all, he has three “free” years and those schools will want to see that he has taken advantage of all opportunities available to him, especially if money isn’t an issue.
I recommend he take AP Spanish Lit, even if not next year, but talk to the GC to see what they suggest.
If he is applying to the highly rejective schools, I also recommend taking AP Spanish Lit.