My middle schooler takes Mandarin at school. He really enjoys it, but is considering applying to our county’s STEM magnet that doesn’t have Mandarin as an option. They offer lots of other languages but not Mandarin.
He’s thinking that maybe he’d like to continue to take Mandarin online, perhaps through CTY, and then use the extra elective class at school for more fine arts classes. He likes art, and the magnet kids don’t have a lot of electives.
Our county requires 2 credits in the same language for graduation, but he’ll have that in Mandarin. The district is really picky about outside classes on transcripts, so probably he wouldn’t get that.
Any thoughts on how that would look for college admissions?
Look at your college of interest (and it’s early but say your state flagship) and see what they say.
If you look at “less competitive” state schools - Like an Ole Miss would require two years or one year + another AP class.
Nebraska two years.
If you are applying to high level or more known schools it will be more.
Not taking language in HS is likely not a good idea.
The other issue with Mandarin - my daughter is in it in college…even when it’s offered, when they get to a 3rd year (in HS and college), they have it on the schedule but don’t offer it…so another thing to look at.
I wouldn’t stop language - which means at that school, you’ll need to switch.
My daughter needs three years in her college program - and they allow two years of one and one of another - and she’s going to have to do that even though she doesn’t want to.
So this is a necessary tradeoff for you too in my opinion.
If your student isn’t college bound or is community college bound, then not an issue.
There will be colleges one can attend without language - but you’d be, in my opinion, painting yourself into a corner - they won’t be many.
He’s a kid I imagine will aim high for college, and I imagine will lean towards STEM. Of course, he’s in middle school so who knows.
If I look at our flagship (MD) they say 2 years of the same language, but he’ll have that on his transcript. I looked at MIT (we can dream right) and they say 2 years.
I guess what I’m asking is whether a CTY class, or something with similar rigor, would make up for not having more than the 2. There are plenty of schools that accept the CTY class for their transcripts. I just don’t think this magnet is one of them.
I wouldn’t be too confident that two years of language in middle school will count. Colleges only look at classes students take in high school. Even if his HS puts middle school classes on his transcript, colleges don’t count them.
Besides, if he’s aiming for a competitive college, the benchmark should not be the minimum required. Maybe the minimum is OK for a football recruit. If he’s not that, he needs to think about what most applicants – his competition – will have on their transcripts – and that will be four years of language.
So, out of curiosity, since I don’t think we can convince the school, if the school did put the CTY classes on the transcript, would that make a difference?
If he took the AP exam in the language, would that make a difference?
He needs to take a language. Get a grade. For top schools. Some like Harvard want four years. Others require two or three but recommend four.
You are seeking a shortcut or walk around. Unfortunately, I think if you attend this school, you’ll need a new language or perhaps there’s another district school he can take the only class at. Note - take a language, not a self study AP test.
I think this is a common problem - even at college - you can take language but you can’t take the one you want.
Again, that will even happen at a high school that offers chinese - like at ours - the school didn’t offer it even though they were supposed to. We noted that in the additional info section.
But you can take a language - they are offering languages. Just not the one you want - and that’s not going to fly.
In general, colleges want you to do what they recommend. They are not looking for someone seeking an exception.
Two years of junior high language is just that…classes taken in junior high. You don’t submit a junior high transcript when applying to college.
Our district does offer Spanish 1 in 8th grade, but it is considered a high school class, so it showed up on her high school transcript. She then went on to complete Spanish II & III in high school, making sure she fulfilled 3 years of a foreign language.
Most state flagship schools & Ivies will require minimum 2 years of a high school foreign language.
I guess I’m confused by this. You seem to be saying that middle school classes don’t appear on transcripts and aren’t counted, but then that your child’s middle school classes appeared on their transcript and were counted.
His middle school language classes will appear on the high school transcript. If he went to our local public high school and took Mandarin there, he’d start at Level 3. Our county would count them towards graduation.
He’d have grades from CTY. The courses there are NCAA approved, and the higher levels are approved by college board to use the AP label. Those classes would appear on a separate transcript, unless the school made an exception.
I think another option would be to take Mandarin at the community college. That would appear on his HS transcript, but I don’t know if the scheduling would work.
I’m sure every district is different. Only Algebra I, Spanish I and some other computer course were considered high school level, and could only be taken by 8th graders. Those classes did appear on high school transcript-they were the same curriculum taught at the high school. She took 2 additional years of Spanish, to fulfill 2 years taken while in high school.
Colleges want to see 2+ years of the same foreign language taken while in high school.
Here, the 6th and 7th graders take half speed language classes. So, their sixth grade language class is equivalent to Chinese 1A, and they get 0.5 credit. But it’s the same curriculum and assessments as the high school class. The 8th grade class is full speed and the same as the Chinese 2 offered at the high school. He’ll also have Algebra 1, Honors Geometry, and Honors Algebra 2 on his transcript when he starts high school.
Our district just has a “2 credits in the same language” requirement, and will count the middle school credits. But for math they require 4 credits taken in high school, so he’ll need to take 4 more math classes.
No college that we toured would accept 2 years of junior high language. They all required minimum 2 years taken during high school. Your child will be greatly limited in their choice of colleges to apply to.
I do have a plan. I am trying to figure out whether the plan will work. But when people assume things that aren’t accurate, then I am providing more information. Replying that CTY does give grades, when people say CTY doesn’t count because it doesn’t have grades, or that here high school courses taken in middle school courses do appear on transcript, is just clarifying.
It might be that CTY won’t count, or that classes taken in middle school won’t count, but it won’t be because they aren’t on transcripts or don’t have grades. It would have to be for some other reason.
But that’s my point. Contact UMD or another school or talk to the school’s guidance counselor because you are getting info opposite of what you are expecting or hoping for.
When there’s any doubt, go to the source. You seem to have a good understanding of what you are seeking. I’d have the experts validate it.
Can he take Chinese at the public high school? We have kids in charter/magnet schools taking classes at a public school. Many kids at School of the ARts do this because School of the Arts just doesn’t offer as many honors or AP classes as they need, so they take them at a public school, even if that school isn’t the student’s zoned school. In fact, School of the ARts draws students from many districts and the closest HS is a Denver public school, but they work it out whether it is one class or three. I think they take them at the beginning of the day and then go to Arts for the rest of the day and practices. There is a city bus line that connects the schools.
There are also home schooled kids who take 1-3 classes at their local schools. Or belong to clubs or play sports.
To me a college might not like that Chinese 1 was taken in 6th grade but if the student gets to level 3 or 4 in high school, even if he is only a sophomore, the college should accept that.
I would inquire with colleges of interest if he can submit CTY transcripts with high school ones to fulfill FL requirements. My hunch is yes,
but you should confirm . Most high schools are limited in what institutions can add classes to their transcripts for credit but colleges are generally willinh to see additional transcripts.
The other issue is whether the STEM high school has language requirements for graduation and whether your middle school language fulfills them as your "outside " ones will not.
My D switched from public to private school between middle and high school. She took two years of language in middle school and she had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get in the correct FL class in 9th. She ended up having to do a one on one placement test with the head of department. Thankfully that went well otherwise she was going to have to start all over again. If she had stayed in her public school it would have been no problem. The school also wouldn’t put her HS level classes from MS on her transcript but the GC made a special note about them at college application time.
All this to say, is that sometimes this doesn’t go as smoothly as we’d like. IMO it’s a safer option for your student to have 3-4 years of FL at their new school, even if they need to start over with a different language. Colleges can be less than transparent about accepting credits from outside the high schools, even dual credit from four year schools. We didn’t know if our D’s college was going to accept her DE credits until two weeks before school started.
My opinion…your son should take a foreign language at his own school through level 4. If he can’t do that! In my opinion, the only other acceptable option is taking two years of foreign language at a community college.
And where I am…Spanish 1 and 2 were noted on the transcript even though taken in middle school…because they were followed by Spanish 3 and Honors Spanish 4 in high school.
If you can do dual enrollment at a community college (and many community colleges are doing totally asynchronous classes now, which means you might choose from several CC’s in your state too) your school might count them like an AP for the GPA. My daughter did some dual enrollment classes and found them to be easier than taking APs. And most universities seem to be willing to count dual enrollment classes for college credit.