<p>I know that Tufts wants 4 'units' of a foreign language, and was wondering if that meant four consecutive years of the same language. I myself have taken french since seventh grade, and am in a French4h class now (my junior year). The middle school 8th grade counts as my first 'unit' (French 1) So technically I've taken 4 units of french. (it is seen on my high school transcript, as it technically counts as a high school credit)</p>
<p>Additionally last year I studied mandarin1 and skipped to mandarin 3 this year. They don't offer anything higher than Mandarin 3 at my school because you can't take it till you're a sophomore, which means most people taking mandarin3 are seniors.</p>
<p>I truly love language, but have no interest in French, and really don't want to take French AP next year. I'd take another language but there is none in my school that I'm very interested in (a dream of mine is to learn Arabic, another reason I want to go to Tufts).</p>
<p>Will this cover the 4 unit suggestion for Tufts?</p>
<p>You’ve done more than my son who is at Tufts did. He just had four years of Latin, but only 3 units in high school. His last year was junior year. There was no way he could have handled AP Latin. He’s taking Arabic now and we just hope he can make it through this year so he can go to an immersion program in the summer. Languages are not his forte, but he’s interested in International Relations and needs to make it work!</p>
<p>They ‘suggest’ 4 units of a language. Its not a requirement, so they won’t reject your application because of it.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much it will hurt your chances, but I do know Tufts does care about languages very much, depending on what ‘school’ you’re applying to.</p>
<p>It definitely won’t help. Even if you do get in you’ll have to take multiple language classes to fill requirements, just so you know for the future</p>
<p>^^^ I’m not sure what the point of the above post is, but in answer to the original question: I doubt you should worry about this. It sounds like you’re asking (almost) if you’ll be penalized for being proficient enough to skip a year of Mandarin instead of taking the three levels offered at your school in three years. Languages are important at Tufts, that’s true, but the interest in learning a language is often more important than how much language your high school has let you complete. In your case, not only are you so enthusiastic about Mandarin that you’ve accelerated your curriculum, but learning Arabic is a “dream” of yours.</p>
<p>Dan, what about post #4 though? I’ve seen variations on this question from lots of students (and parents) and not just about Tufts. Is whatever is considered “level 3” of a language enough, even if only two are in high school? It’s part of the reason my son took another year of Latin - just in case it was an issue.</p>
<p>mathmom,
S1 had three years of Spanish, the last one taken in 9th grade. Decided to join the online newspaper staff and improve his editing/writing skills. S2 had five years of HS Spanish, two in MS and three in HS. Didn’t seem to be a problem. And, as you know, then S2 tossed it for another language!</p>
<p>OP – if you are interested in IR, be aware that the foreign language requirement is eight semesters. Not for the faint of heart!!</p>
<p>CD, S2 took the AP in Spanish. Of course *that *wasn’t a problem! I’d forgotten that your oldest had stopped in 9th grade though. That strikes me as risky, but of course his other strengths were very strong.</p>
<p>The GC was not entirely happy about it and wanted him to take at least one more year, but switching to journalism was a really good thing for him. Pulled him out of his shell, turned him into a full-fledged news junkie, and expanded his horizons a lot. </p>
<p>Every single college interview he had asked him about working on the paper. I guess it was not a “typical” EC for a math/CS major! His H interviewer was a DC-area columnist and pundit on the right side of the political spectrum. S1 said it was the best interview he had. (Oh, yeah, I can imagine the divergence of opinion! :rolleyes:) </p>
<p>For S2, the IB required five years of one language for the Standard Level exam – and he stopped after junior year. Also took the AP to hedge his bets for credit/placement, though he was certain even then he was going to switch languages in college.</p>
<p>@Mathmom - I’ll come back to a line from my above post: the interest in learning a language is often more important than how much language your high school has let you complete.</p>
<p>Frankly speaking, only 2 years of high school language that stops at high school level 3 raises some eyebrows here. There are two issues here. The first is only two years of language. The second is that this particular sequence, seemingly ending language courses as early as high school would allow, raises questions of fit in a way the OP does not.</p>
<p>The question that comes up may not be exactly this one, but it will sound something like: if we are a school that prizes language acquisition across all majors, is this a student who will share that value or rather a student who will think of one of Tufts defining requirements as a chore? We, of course, admit some students who have a language curric that looks like what post #4 describes, and I don’t want to imply that an application to Tufts is a waste of your time, but it’s important to be able to see either an explanation for that curric (the counselor rec, for instance) or to see fit for that student in another way.</p>
<p>Thanks Dan, the scenario in post #4 is common at our school. Kids take the Regents test at the end of the year think “Yay, I’m done with languages!” and take other courses. That was my son’s original plan, but his guidance counselor and parents encourage him to stick Latin out another year. A lot of sophomores don’t realize this may be an issue.</p>
<p>My son is very interested in international relations so eventually he’s not only going to have to learn a language, he’s also going to have to learn a modern one. Since it’s still not a strength for him - he’s planning to spend next summer is some Arabic speaking country.</p>
<p>Another part of why S1 quit Spanish after level 3 was that he realized for math PhD programs, he was going to have to switch to German, Russian or French in any event. He also applied to a few schools where there was no foreign language requirement. This clearly wouldn’t have worked for him at Tufts, but it also may partially explain his results at a couple of other schools where the FL would have been a more important component of his application.</p>
<p>S2 has personal and professional reasons for studying his current language in college. :)</p>