@srk2017, I think you might have to contact individual schools to check into this further. I do not think the SAT II test will count as credit, but the AP tests could. It would probably be Spanish with listening, and again, individual schools have different rules. D15’s school only accepted an AP score of 5 to get credit. Other schools accepted lower AP scores.
I took my DS to Texas A&M university for a visit today. He didn’t hate it. He feels like it would be a good safety school for him. He met with a dance professor and she was very encouraging. They have a few very interesting programs and we need to go back for a more specific tour. That is the only college related thing we did this holiday. He was in four shows of Nutcracker on top of hosting duties for turkey day. I am ready for some vacation days.
Even Ivies just require 2 years of FL even though most recommend 4 years. My S16 didn’t like foreign language, wasn’t great at it, and was not going to pick a BS program that included more than 1 year of FL but prefer those with none so he stopped after 2 years. But he used all his electives to take 8 years worth of HS math classes and 8 years of science classes which for him makes far more sense. He has 4 years LA and 5 years of SS too plus 2 years of honors engineering. As long as your course load is rigorous and makes sense then I think forcing the FL issue unless you are going into liberal arts is not a necessity. My D17 dropped Latin after Latin 3 even though she loves languages because our school could not keep a PT Latin teacher for more than 1 year and the class was constantly years behind and very boring. But again she chose a rigorous extra science AP for her elective so I think it was a good choice for her.
Thanks @dcplanner. It appears (http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/a/ForeignLanguage.htm) only Harvard says 4 years foreign language but even them don’t insist on it. one my S’s seniors got into Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia last year with IB SL Spanish. my S is taking additional science class instead of 4th year Spanich.
@srk2017 My understanding is that the final language level taken determines the number of years. My son is also taking IB Spanish SL and doesn’t plan to take HL next year. His 8th grade Spanish 1 class counts as a year from what we’ve been told. In fact, I think he will need to report his Spanish 1 grade (and Alg 1 and Geometry) from jr high on at least his UC application. I don’t know how other applications handle that.
Our school doesn’t offer Spanish 4–they go straight from Spanish 3 to either IB Spanish or AP Spanish. His IB Spanish class is a combo class with both juniors taking SL and seniors continuing on to HL. I think Spanish is currently the class that is most difficult for him. It doesn’t come naturally to him at all.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of the schools where he will likely apply (STEMy schools) only require 2 years of a 2nd language and recommend 3 years. DS will have extra science and math classes that should make up for not taking the most rigorous foreign language offerings.
Question for all of you IB parents (let me know if I should throw this out in the Parent Cafe?): at Ds school, the IB program is on the smaller side so most of the IB kids are with each other all day, every.single.day.
D started out the year knowing that a certain four person “group” was loud, aggressive and ran the show. They are also very negative, somewhat whiney and tend to dominate all conversations both in the classroom and online. They have a big group message website going and some of those kids are all aways on the discussion board. I’ve seen the posts…they are long negative rants about politics, religion, etc. Generally, they are the kind of conversations that are very difficult to keep up with. I honestly don’t know how those kids keep up with the board and also complete their grades and projects.
She made the choice to stop participating in the group message and focus on her grades. Of course I applaud that choice, but she is now saying that most of their conversation time in class is spent discussing things that happen on the group message board. Since she does not participate she is left out completely. That is partly ok with her since she just plugs into the work they all need to be doing anyway…but she is partly feeling lonely and left out. One would think there would not be too much time in class for smaller group discussion anyway but apparently with one teacher out on leave and a long-term sub there are quite a few times when they are supposed to be doing work but it dissolves into “discussions” etc.
So I guess my question for IB parents is this: Does the smallness of the program lend itself to some group bickering and social issues? If so, did it tend to blow over and how did your kid deal with the all inclusiveness of IB?
@ynotgo - My S also took Spanish in middle school (actually he did it from kindergarten 
) and thinks IB SL is equivalent to lever 4.
In case anyone wanted their PSAT score before Christmas, it looks like it isn’t going to happen. I just noticed this post on the kids of 2017 board:
I received an email from GC with that same message regarding the psat. Not happy about this. S needs score to apply to some summer programs with January deadlines. Ugh!
@Felicitia - I don’t think any summer programs have early January deadlines.
Our counselor posted in the weekly newsletter that the new release date is January 7. >:P
(There really should be a pulling your hair out emoji.)
Edited: Aggh. I thought there was one but couldn’t find it! ~X(
~X(
We were hoping to see the score before deciding which schools to visit during winter break. :-w
How can you apply governor school if you don’t have scores from SAT or ACT? DD has AP scores and 3 subject scores. Ideas?
Best luck to all ACT takers!
DD is taking it today and it’s her first standardized test besides the PSAT.
Yes, good luck to the ACT takers! DS was scheduled to take it, but never got around to doing ACT practice tests. He did take the December SAT, and felt he probably did fairly well, but we won’t know until those scores are released. I changed his ACT reservation to February, but we’d have to drive 45 minutes out of town for that sitting.
He’s doing the USACO contest this morning instead. That’s also 4 hours long.
@Ynotgo – I had never heard of the USACO contest until last night when my son announced that he wanted to clear out some of his homework so as to have a four hour block on Sunday.
I registered for the Feb ACT only to reserve a seat. The exam is not offered in NY state in Feb, so NYers all flock to CT or NJ to take that test. I doubt he will take it, but better to have the seat.
@Ynotgo @CT1417 , congratulations on qualifying for USACO. That is a great accomplishment! DD was the only girl who took AMC in her school last year, with no preparation and did decent, good for girl. If only she could prepare for the test! With high school swimming in full swing, 2-4 hours practice every day and meets, it will be tough!!
@SincererLove Thanks, but actually I wanted to clarify for others that anyone can compete in USA Computing Olympiad (USACO). It’s not like AMC or F=am, which have prep tests for the next level. Well, it sort of is, but all the tests are called USACO and all are online until the camp level. The levels for USACO are bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Platinum was added this year. There are currently 4 test weekends a year. Kids take the bronze test first. Whenever they pass the bronze test, they can take silver next time. And so on. All the questions deal with cows, but doing human-like things.
I will defer entirely to Ynotgo as I know nothing about this, but thank you for the explanation. I am kept on a need-to-know basis with activities that do not require payment, a ride, or signature on a waiver/release form.
My older son swam year round and yes, that was a significant time commitment.
Rapid keyboarding going on behind me in office, so I hope that means he is having fun with the coding contest. The only other ones he has participated in have been collaborative and ran for a week or more. At least this can be knocked off quickly.