"All schools do not require foreign language fluency from all majors. My D took three years of French. It appears that she will be able to place out of the language requirement at all schools she has been accepted to. "
This is absolutely correct - colleges are different. My D. took all thru Spanish 5 in HS with very good teacher (native Spanish speaker, who used to teach at college). D. had much higher score on her placement test at college than the highest listed there, which placed her into 3rd year of college Spanish. She could not “place out” of it. D. attended at in-state public, not at any Elite school. She had Zoology major. She took the 3rd year of college Spanish, which was one of her best college classes with awesome prof. She took only 1 semester and was able to speak after this class. She still uses it with her Spanish speaking patients.
But my point is not that her college class was good, but rather that the Spanish may be required in the major which has nothing to do with languages. You do not want to limit your choices of college / major based on the requirement for the Foreign language. However, one may just get lucky to attend at college and in the major that does not require the class that the student does not like, it may happen.
My children all took 4 years of Spanish beginning in 8th grade and we also are native-speakers/Spanish background but the kids were required to have a FL. (I happened to teach at my kids HS, as well). My kids hated Spanish, as they all had the same Spanish teacher who was awful, a non-native, and played favorites, making my kids hated by the entire class.
My advice, check each website, for each school he hopes to attend, and read their FL requirements and then do the bare minimum!
Language classes can vary a lot. I would require my kids to take 3 years in HS regardless of what level they started in. I feel like while this may not be a formal “requirement”, it seems to be an expectation at very competitive schools. If the teacher next year is different (hopefully better), I would have my kid stick it out.
Like other say, it is what level you get up to, not how many years.
Also see what your HS has as requirements.
Look at colleges you are interested in and see if they have requirements for FL for admission and for graduation.
My younger son ended up taking the Latin 4, just for the reasons stated in the thread - he felt it would be safer than to only have two years in high school. The last year was a real struggle and the B or B+ the teacher gave him was a gift. Interestingly he ended up majoring in International Relations at Tufts. The major requires four years of a foreign language or fluency whichever comes first. He started from scratch taking Arabic. None of the Latin was useful in any way. He struggled with Arabic too, or did at least until he spent the first half of junior year in an immersion program in Jordan.
My son didn’t relate well to foreign language classes (although he is fluent in a second language) and ended up taking two years each of two languages. I don’t know if this would have hurt him in admissions as he was accepted ED to a selective college and withdrew his other applications. However, I would say that even though academically rigorous colleges may not require 4 years of one language, many of their applicants (the competition) will have achieved fluency.
Because he wanted to avoid college level language study, my son looked for colleges that didn’t have a foreign language requirement. He found quite a few in this category.
Alternately, I might suggest that your son try to achieve fluency outside of high school, either though interaction with your local Spanish speaking community or through travel/immersion opportunities. This could be viewed positively on his application and also overcome language competency requirements.
@cardinal2020mom - S2 had the same issue your son is having with Spanish in HS. His HS required 3 years of foreign language but the majority took all 4. He started in the class senior year but realized quickly that it was going to negatively impact his GPA (which worried him for the colleges that wanted his first quarter grades).
His college counselor agreed to him dropping it as long as he replaced it with an AP class, which he did. I believe someone up thread did the same. He applied and was accepted to several competitive schools (not tippy top lottery ones) so I don’t think it impacted his college choices.
Interestingly, he ended up choosing the university which requires all students to complete a language through the literacy level - go figure!! He graduates this May and jokes that his biggest college accomplishment is never getting anything less a B in college Spanish!
Very interesting. Just when I think I have it all figured out I realize I never thought to look at college requirements for a FL. What was I thinking.
I just sent an email to his Spanish teacher to get a feel for how she thinks he’s handling the class. Especially since he will be meeting with his gc this Friday to set his junior year schedule.
This is why I love this site. The information and advice cannot be bought.
Looking at the bigger picture, I don’t know a single adult who has ever regretted learning a foreign language. And pretty much everyone I know wishes that they had learned more, and more in depth.
It will always serve you well to know another language, particularly Spanish.
FWIW, the advice both of my college graduate sons gave their younger sister was to take as much Spanish as she could, both in high school and in college.
You say you are Spanish. Do you have the possibility of sending your son to Spain to spend time with friends or relatives? If that’s not possible, have you thought of providing him with Spanish instruction at home yourself during the summer? It’s never too late if he and you are willing.
Cuban born. I have actually thought about sending him there. Not only would it be an immersion of the language but an eye opening experience to the living conditions. That one scares me. This summer would be the summer to do it. I will have to discuss with the family. I do have some family in Spain also. That would probably be more costly.
The big issue in school is the listening part of the tests. They have to answer questions from a recording, not the teacher. He complains that it’s garbled. I have already brought it up the the teacher. Waiting on her response.
If, for whatever reason, you want to avoid taking a foreign language in college, you really have to read the fine print.
In addition to the difference between what it takes to get in (admission requirements/recommendations) and what it takes to get out (graduation/degree requirements) there’s also a good deal of difference from college to college on how foreign language proficiency is determined and implemented.
Some colleges use standardized test scores – SATII, AP or IB to establish proficiency equivalence. Some have their own internal exams. Some credit the number of years or level of language courses taken in high school.
Once equivalency is established, you may be looking at one semester or two years of language study and may be graded or allowed under pass/fail. Plus individual majors and study abroad programs may have their own degree requirements.
It’s been over 10 years since my son applied and the situation may have changed, but at the time, some of the colleges that didn’t have a general language fluency requirement were Williams, Hamilton, Amherst, Wesleyan, Brown. I’m sure there are others in varying levels of selectivity.
Just read that Stanford accepts the language SAT subject test as meeting the language requirement. Why Stanford, you ask? Because my D16 was just accepted there. That said, she also has an interest in not having to take fl in college. I figured both kids, D16 and S18, have nothing lose by taking the test.
At this point my son has no idea which schools he will be applying to, but again, he loses nothing.
It’s a start. By the time we get the results we will have plenty of time for him to drop/add Spanish IV for next year.
Stanford seems to be fairly accommodating on helping students “place out” of foreign language study. They accept SATII, AP, IB exams as well their own departmental placement tests.
The minimum acceptable scores for the SATIIs vary by individual language mostly in ~ the 630 range. So, yes, your son could take the SATII this year while Spanish is still fresh in his mind and see how he does.
Spending time in Cuba (or with relatives) could be relatively inexpensive if they have a student you could host in return.
You could have him take the subject test in October (or November ?) or a cultural embassy/council’s certification test right upon return. This should provide a counterpoint /external evaluation in addition to the class and help him do well with less trouble and time investment.
It really depends on what he is planning to major in and what he would take instead of foreign lang. My son’s school also has a sub par for lang program plus my son hated it. He is planning on majoring in a STEM area in college and getting a BS not a BA. Of the 12 colleges he planned to apply to only 1 required him to take 1 year of for lang in college. They all required 2 years (which is all my son took) but recommended 4. He has been accepted to all the very competitive schools (less than 10% acceptance type schools) he applied to except for 1 deferral plus is a finalist for a very prestigious scholarship. He took extra AP science and math classes with the space he freed up in his schedule from not taking for lang for the last 2 years which apparently was a good thing to the colleges he has applied to.