At best your list is a combination of matches and reaches. You have no likelies or safeties on there.
Binghamton (NY) or SUNY Geneseo would be extremely likely admits for you.
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I agree with the others who have mentioned the lack of foreign language. You will not be a competitive applicant at schools on your list without it, and some schools require at least two years of FL to apply.
Can you add a language junior and senior year? If you also did a class in summer school next year, you could reach the 3rd year of an FLâŠand that will make you a more competitive applicant.
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I think some nuance to this subject and statement has to be applied. For convenience I will divide ED applicants into three groups:
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Athletes and other hooked applicants- absolutely over represented in ED round and accepted with pre reads at near 100%. Distort acceptance rate upward.
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Unhooked average (or even above average) excellent but not exceptional kids. These kids experience the same results they would during RD round but with the possibility of being deferred and getting a second review.
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Unhooked âperfect fitâ kids. ED often attracts the top kids to call their shot and display the ultimate form of commitment. If EDing correctly these applicants will have customized their applications, be specific about why they have chosen the school and self selected based on âfitâ and academic suitability. These kids often get selected at significantly higher percentages than the cumulative norm as the school seeks to lock them in and based on their superior applications.
Browns statement is simply an articulation of what all the top tier schools do during ED. They donât lower standards but do accept a higher percentage of kids based on the quality of the early pool and the certainty of the yield it produces. For Brown or any of the other elites ED is an opportunity to frame with certainty typically about 50% of their incoming class. They use it to lock in what they perceive as the best fit and most qualified kids so if you are one of these kids and have chosen A school ED is a âbestâ shot.
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Does language matter if the student has fluency in another language - their native one for example.
I note most of the most selective schools I have seen address this say four years of a language is ârecommendedâ or perhaps âexpectedâ (Yale says 3-4 years is a âgood ideaâ) they typically donât say it is a requirement (Yale in fact specifically states it isnât a requirement). But how they deal with cases of native fluency, I donât know.
Is this the case for OP?
IME, language in HS does matter in college admissions (unless there is an LD specific to language learning), even if the applicant speaks another language at home.
OP can call some admissions departments and ask these questions, but they do have two years of HS left to take FL.
Applicants with depth in courses across the five core areas are stronger than those with deficiencies, especially at the reaches OP has on their list. The list is all reaches right now, so OP does need some safeties and targets and posters have made some good suggestions for those. Hopefully OP will come back with some feedback.
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Thank you so much. I will contact my high school to reschedule my language courses! I took French 1 this year as an international sophomore because I got my green card after the school started. Thank you so much for the advice though!
Thank you all for the advice! Unfortunately, I did not meet the language requirements for these UC schools, but I met the requirement for art! I will negotiate with my schoolâs academic officer. All these advices are valuable, I will keep them in mind! Thank you so much!
Thank you all so much! I will keep these advices in mind!
Yes, I speak mandarin fluently and can guarantee a 5 on that subject. Thank you so much!
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Yes, I will be able to learn a language course. Thank you so much for your advice! Iâm planning to add French into my schedule!
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If you indicate APChinese on your list of courses as well as French2, thatâd be ideal. Take the AP Chinese exam in 2024. You show both fluency in a language other than English and willingness to discover a new language.
Will your transcript show ESL classes?
The FL matter really is the only issue with your application.
However, you should consider any university with a sub 20% acceptance rate a reach (due to selectivity, admission is a bit of a lottery) and add universities you like with higher acceptance rates - (various vibes for you to explore) Holy Cross, Scripps, Suny Binghamton or Geneseo, UVermontâŠ
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I think that this most likely counts. You might want to double check, for example by asking admissions at a few schools.
I never studied a language that actually counted as âforeignâ for me. I am originally from Montreal, but from a native English speaking family. The only other language that I ever studied was French, which of course is not foreign at all for someone from Montreal. However, French did count for universities in the US, because it was âforeignâ to them.
My guess is that Mandarin would similarly count as foreign, but you should check, and it might be necessary to demonstrate your ability in Mandarin in some way (presumably by taking a test of some kind).
I am not completely confident with regard to whether your safeties are really safeties. I think that you might want to think about whether to add a true safety. Your reaches in comparison are famous and clearly you are qualified to attend any university, so they are at least possible and are reaches.
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Depends on the college and depends on the situation.
If you have a 3 or higher in an AP language other than English exam, you fulfill the UC language other than English requirement.
However, not all colleges like to see AP scores from a heritage language as the only means of fulfilling a foreign language requirement, recommendation, or expectation. But if English is a recently learned foreign language to you, that may be an exception to some of them. When the college lists â4 years of foreign languageâ as a ârecommendationâ and gives no other detail for situations other than an English-speaking American taking foreign language courses starting in high school, it can leave some applicants guessing about whether their different situations are acceptable to the college.
It would be possible to take French 2 as a junior and French 3 as a senior to get to level 3, which could be more helpful at colleges that are less willing to allow for AP scores in heritage languages. But that could come at a cost of displacing other course work.
You could also speak to your high school about getting the Seal of Biliteracy (formalized by the State of Rhode Island):
https://sealofbiliteracy.org/state/ri
https://www.rifla.org/Seal-of-Biliteracy
The test itself is fairly intense, involving both written and spoken aspects.
I do know from other ESL students at our high school (different language), that while they were absolutely fluent in conversational language and had extensive vocabulary, they never had taken formal, secondary education classes in their native language. Them taking formal HS classes in their native language was not at all guaranteed top grades, and they did have to truly apply themselves (even âunlearnâ a few things).
This might be different in your case, but it canât hurt to take a practice AP exam to see if you need to polish up on anything.
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Sometimes, heritage speakers have a high level of fluency, but a significantly lower level of literacy, so high schools and colleges sometimes offer â[language] for heritage speakersâ that concentrate on reading and writing for students who already speak the language. Consider the analogous situation where most kids in the US learn speaking and listening of English at home, but most reading and writing learning is in school.
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