<p>My oldest son is applying to schools this fall and has applied to his one school EA and that is done. That school recommends, but doesn't require, 4 years of foreign language. My son's taken Arabic 101 at the CC-which gives high schoolers two credits for some reason- and is taking Arabic 102 currently. He was going to take Arabic 250 at another community college in the spring but he's just been informed, due to budget cuts, they no longer offer it. The only other option I see is through the local state uni. However, the cost would be well over $1000. He has a dwindling 529 account that I could pull from but I'm not sure it's worth it.</p>
<p>I am not an admissions counselor- but in my estimation 2 years of Arabic is worth 4 years of French/Spanish.
If it isn’t available at his school & at many schools it would not be, I don’t think they want him to spend down his college money to take it.
Students get accepted to top colleges by taking most rigorous courses possible, but they don’t expect them to take classes the high schools don’t offer.</p>
<ol>
<li>Ask the guidance counselor to make note of it in the recommendation she writes.</li>
<li>Have your son send an email to the college rep for his ED school explaining the situation and soliciting their thoughts. </li>
</ol>
<p>I wouldn’t worry hugely about that UNLESS he’s applying to a public university that has mandatory requirements, at which point I’d check very carefully with each and get an answer in email.</p>
<p>My son had a messy schedule conflict his senior year that prevented him from taking a recommended class. His college counselor told him to include a note on his application explaining why he wasn’t taking the class. She said that this is a quite common occurrence and colleges are used to seeing changes due to scheduling conflicts, etc. In this case, since the application has already been submitted, I’d suggest that your son write a letter or email to Admissions explaining why he won’t be taking the class. I’m sure they’ll be very sympathetic to classes being cancelled due to budget cuts, as it’s happening all over the country. Two years of language at the community college level is in fact probably worth 4 years at the high school level, so I can’t imagine that the change will affect his application at all.</p>
<p>I guess for me the question would be did he disclose on his EA app that he was planning on taking the class? If yes, then I would have him contact the school. If no, won’t he have his EA decision before the class would have started? There is a difference between required and recommended…</p>
<p>If he’s a senior now, I don’t see a problem if the application has already gone out. If there’s a question when the final transcripts are requested (assuming he’s accepted) you just say the class was canceled. If he hasn’t sent out his application, in the “is there anything you wish to share with us” you write a short note saying that you had planned to take the next level of Arabic in the spring, but unfortunately it was cancelled. You don’t have to even explain that there’s an unaffordable option. Your GC can also address this.</p>
<p>Being that I am the guidance counselor as my son is homeschooled, I guess I can write all this in the midyear report. Yes, the courses are listed on his transcript that went to every common app. school and to all his non common app. schools. I still might have him email the school to let them know. Now we need to find time to figure out the spring schedule.</p>
<p>It is often the case that one semester of college foreign language is considered equivalent to two years of high school foreign language. However, you will want to check at the school where the language course was taken and the school which would be looking at it for admissions or future placement in college courses to be sure.</p>
<p>The school he’s applying to “recommends” four years; it’s not an issue if he does not continue Arabic. I would wait and see. If he’s accepted, you can still inform the college that he won’t be able to continue with Arabic, but I don’t think they care.</p>