Third Year of French or AP Computer Science?

Applying to College
1

<p>So.....</p>

<p>Our family stinks at foreign languages. My husband and I almost flunked our classes in HS. My daughter's only B in HS (keeping her from a perfect 4.0) was in French. Now my sophomore son is struggling to keep an A minus in second year French. </p>

<p>He will major in Engineering and I looked at the requirements of the schools he is interested in (MIT, RPI, WPI, CM, U of M, GT, etc.) and they only require or recommend two years of a foreign language. </p>

<p>If he drops French he will take AP computer science next year and another undetermined science course senior year. </p>

<p>Even though they say they only want two years of a foreign language, do you think not taking two more years will hurt him?</p>

<p>What would you do? Take two more years of French and risk getting Bs (or worse) or drop the language and take extra science courses?</p>

2

<p>While having at least three years of a foreign language is always helpful, science and engineering-related courses are much more important. Colleges such as MIT are more interested in students who take and do well in science and technology courses. I remember struggling in AP French, as it ended up being my lowest AP score in my high school career (a 3). I’d imagine the same would happen to your son. So, your kid should definitely take AP CS.</p>

3

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

4

<p>some HS’s require three years of FL for graduation; if your son’s school does not, and you are sure where he will be applying, then the AP CS seems like a better choice (in his case)</p>

5

<p>If colleges like Harvard recommend 4 years but I only take 3 (2 years in middle school, 1 in HS) will my app be thrown out? I mean, I’ve placed in intel isef, done USAPHO (semifinalist) which points clearly I’ll be heading the engineering route.</p>

6

<p>Harvard won’t reject you just because you focused more on engineering than foreign languages, but Harvard is more for liberal arts majors than engineering, really. MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon have better engineering programs than Harvard (though Harvard’s is still considered to be in the top 20), and recommend 2 or 3 years of foreign languages in high school, as opposed to Harvard’s 4.</p>

7

<p>addy: start your own thread; please do not hijack someone elses</p>

8

<p>His HS only requires 2 years of a foreign language. </p>

<p>If he takes AP cs next year he will have 5 APs his junior year and another 5 his senior year for a total of 11 (he has AP physics this year). </p>

<p>French is really a struggle and taking up too much of his valuable time and threatening his gpa.</p>

9

<p>Why take French in the first place? isn’t that considered the more difficult language compared to spanish, German? It is in my school.</p>

10

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</p>

<p>No, they won’t throw you out.</p>

<p>I would take APCS for sure. Minimal workload and your son is clearly a math/science person so he will have no trouble. AP French on the other hand is supposed to be the hardest AP language and one of the hardest classes out there.</p>