<p>D is a rising junior, would be going on to French IV .... but it throws a huge monkey wrench in the schedule, and the teacher is terrible. She'd love to switch to Latin, which has always interested her.... but, will it look bad on the college apps? She's a likely music/theater major, with great language skills, but pretty average in math, so her APs will be English and US history. I would far rather have her take Latin and actually learn something than continue with French with this teacher (the only one available). What to do? Any thoughts would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Most schools require 3 years of a language and recommend 4; if DD takes Latin I and II, she’ll have 5 years. I do not think it will negatively influence her admissions.</p>
<p>We asked a very good but not super elite LAC how they felt about only 3 years of FL. My D was considering taking FL at a CC, because she couldn’t fit it in HS, but she wondered if it might be nice to start a new one. That adcom said starting a new one wouldn’t impress him - he said sticking with the same one longer would mean more to him, even if she had to study it on her own.</p>
<p>She couldn’t schedule the CC class after all, and tried to work with a tutor, which also fell by the wayside with ECs and other work. We’re just taking our chances that colleges mean it when they say 3 years of FL is enough. She has every intention of starting a new language in college, happily. Part of her problem was that the FL program here just didn’t work for her.</p>
<p>Also - for vocal college programs, they usually take 1 year of Italian and German; could she take either of those instead? Might help more in college. Although this adcom (he was the music rep) wasn’t thrilled our D wanted to switch to an “operatic” language, still pushed for continuity.</p>
<p>Gwen: what type of schools is she planning on applying to? She already has 3 years of one FL; switching to Latin next year will give her a total of 4 years of FL. While it might make a difference at a Top 20 school, it probably won’t make a difference many other places.</p>
<p>My D took 2 years of French, then was offered the chance to be part of a pilot program in our district for Latin. She did one year & then it was discontinued and she didn’t want/feel comfortable going back to French. </p>
<p>Look at the recommended/suggested HS course requirements at her target schools to see if there would be a problem if she dropped French.</p>
<p>“I would far rather have her take Latin and actually learn something than continue with French with this teacher.” </p>
<p>This speaks volumes. Language teachers are so different in their abilities to speak and teach. A scheduling problem often derails language progression in our public high schools here. The Latin would probably give her a better foundation for studying another language should she decide to in college. I am usually the one beating the “hang in there drum,” but there seem to be good reasons to switch. Life is too short to be miserable in high school French.</p>
<p>I agree with mominva … in addition, the Latin will help with the SATs</p>
<p>I think switching to a better teacher is a good reason to switch. I am told some admissions committees are impressed by Latin. (Though my kids thought that without the oral component it was in some ways easier.) If you have any concerns you can always say you switched to Latin because the teacher had such a wonderful reputation.</p>
<p>If French I, II, and III are already on her transcripts, nothing to worry about. They’ll see that she’s had a total of 3 years with French. That’s how our school district worked and I don’t think it was a problem for anyone who decided to drop languages after 10th grade.</p>
<p>I am a vocal minority here, but try this:</p>
<p>It seems she has met the need already for most any college. How about kid chooses the language that
a) kid is most likely to actually need in adult working life? or
b) kid enjoys learning?</p>
<p>Taking classes to impress a college seems to disregard the purpose of learning…</p>
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<p>Nevertheless, a student’s opportunities for further learning are diminished if the student doesn’t take the curriculum that colleges desire.</p>
<p>The idea that four years of a single foreign language are preferable to three years of that language (regardless of whether the student also takes a year or two of a second language) is derived from the preferences of highly selective colleges. Even slightly lower down on the academic food chain, three years of one language is plenty. </p>
<p>So whether or not switching to Latin is acceptable has a lot to do with the level of selectivity of the colleges that the student aspires to. One of my kids dropped his language after level 3 (largely because he felt ill-prepared for level 4 because of poor teaching along the way), but this was not an issue because he aspired to a flagship state university and only needed 3 years. If he had aspired to more selective colleges, his choice might have been more difficult.</p>
<p>Drop the French! Don’t have your D live her life because you think this is what colleges expect. The schools will not deny her because of this.</p>
<p>My d switched languages after Spanish 3 in grade 10 but we lived in China at the time and she felt taking Chinese was more important.<br>
The only drawback she had was that her college required two years of a language - either credit by testing or you have to take it as a class. She was able to pass out of one semester of Chinese but had to take the other 3 classes and it was a major pain to schedule since language classes often meet every day and there were not that many sections of Chinese to choose from.</p>
<p>She’s got the three years of French. Have her take the SATII to substantiate her accomplishment. Then, take Latin and use the Latin to boost her vocab and English grammar. </p>
<p>IMO the potential increase in SAT score will compensate, if not outweigh, a fourth year of French, particularly if the French teacher is poor.</p>
<p>Latin will not only help with learning related languages in future but the sciences.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages I took 2 years of French and 2 years of Latin. Latin was definitely more useful at the high school level. Went on to study French in college. </p>
<p>I like cnp55’s advice. Makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>Thank you all SO much-- there is so much great advice here! No, RobD, she’s not applying to top 20 schools-- NYU and UMichigan (oos) would probably be the most challenging apps.
She took French 1 in 8th grade so I was afraid it might not count – but she has in fact had three years in all. When she has so many interests she wants to work on, I hate her having to take a course just for the sake of taking it. I will check the places she intends to apply and consider further. Thank you all!</p>
<p>I’m grateful to schools that they do consider the first year of FL in 8th grade as one of the three they want. They don’t always do that with math, but for some reason they do with FL.</p>
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<p>From a student’s perspective – rather, THIS student’s perspective, hahaha – I would choose the better teacher. There’s nothing worse than being in a foreign language class where the teacher speaks the language poorly; it’s probably not worth doing. Does your daughter take a particular interest in another subject that she could pursue instead of the language route?</p>
<p>A year with a poor teacher doesn’t sound productive. I won’t encourage her to waste her time just for what a college may look for when it’s something like FL. Only the top schools will care anyway.</p>
<p>That’s the thing, tom8-- she would love to take music theory or another music course, or another social science course, or Latin. (I think she’d have loved French, too, with a better teacher). And when she has lots of interests it just doesn’t seem right for her to push on with a class where she’s not really getting anything.</p>