What to do if you are taking AP French in Sophomore Year?

Applying to College
1

Hello,
I am a Sophomore who will max out of the French curriculum this year since I am taking AP French right now. I have a few choices for my Junior year -

  1. Start another language from scratch like Spanish or Mandarin and continue that for 2 years.
  2. Pursue some french courses outside of school
  3. not worry about doing any Language for the next 2 years and look at other electives like AP World History, etc.
  4. do both 1) and 2).

Would really appreciate any feedback on this if the goal is to get into an Ivy. Most of these colleges will say that they recommend 3-4 years of ONE language so not sure what to do here.

Thanks.

2

One possibility that occurs to me might be a subset of your choice 2:

There are some very good and reasonably priced intensive French programs in Canada over the summer. One daughter took one in New Brunswick (which is the only officially bilingual province in Canada, although the country is also officially bilingual). There are also programs in Nova Scotia, Quebec City, and Montreal. I think there are some others further west but I have not looked at any of them.

Some of these are 2 1/2 weeks long, some are 5 weeks long. There may be other options also. Some are aimed at high school students, and some are aimed at older students.

My understanding is that schools want you to get to the equivalent of a third or fourth year in the language. Taking AP French counts, even if you do not have all of it in high school.

Bonne chance.

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3

If you started a language very early and took the full sequence to get to AP, you will be fine for language requirements at colleges. You can study another language if you are interested, but there’s not an admissions need for it.

If you grew up speaking French and took AP as an easy course, this will count very little in admissions. You should start another language and earn what you can through high school.

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4

Agree with the fact that native/heritage speaker question is important. If you had significant French exposure in the home I would answer this differently. If you’ve done this all through school, then I’d say the combo of 1+2 is best, especially if you’re interested in the large number of academic fields that benefit from multilingual - comparative literature, linguistics, international relations are just 3 examples from totally different disciplines. Such a great life skill to be truly fluent in two or more languages, and you’re there or nearly there in 2, with potential to add a 3rd.

5

Some schools consider foreign language a core and like to see four years of it on transcripts.

6

As a practical matter, many students start a foreign language in middle school or earlier and complete the highest level the high school offers before 12th grade. Since AP level is considered level 4 or higher, most colleges will see that as “4+ years”*. However, you may want to ask colleges of interest directly if you are uncertain. If a college actually does want the impossible (e.g. 4 actual years of the same language after completing the highest level after 2 years), then perhaps it is not a college worth applying to.

*A possible exception at some (not all) colleges is if the language was learned at home as a heritage speaker. Some (not all) colleges prefer to see study of a non-heritage language in school (perhaps in addition to taking an appropriately high level course of the heritage language).

7

Actually, they want to see foreign language through high school level four. @skieurope am I correct?

My kids both took Spanish 4 in 10th grade. And that was it for foreign languages. They enjoyed having the period for other elective courses.

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8

In general, there is no issue from colleges if one completes level 4 / AP and has taken it for at least 2 years during HS. It gets a little less cut-and-dry if the HS offers post-AP courses, but there are relatively few high schools that do.

I took Spanish IV junior year and then took a different language as a senior (
(which in hindsight was a mistake: i should have taken no language) and had no issues in admissions, even with the HS offering higher level Spanish classes.

9

One of my kids did the exact same thing, and did fine in college admissions. She went to a university that was a good fit for her. It was not “Ivy League or equivalent”, but it helped to get her where she is today (which is studying in a very good DVM program at a different university).

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10

Thank you all for such thoughtful responses. So in my case:

  1. Not a native French speaker - it was offered in middle school and I tested into French 3 in freshman year.

  2. School has nothing to offer beyond AP French. They do have a dual enrolment option with the ‘City College’ but my French teacher doesn’t think I will actually learn anything there that would push my language skills to a different level.

  3. I do want to continue honing my skills in French so am looking into doing some courses at Alliance Francaise.

  4. I also am quite conversant in Hindi so unless absolutely required, would probably not enroll in a 4th language.

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11

@khemami perhaps you will find an elective course at your high school that can be included because you now have the time. My kids took culinary arts. They tossed every notebook and notes from every HS class except culinary arts. Both have large ringed binders
for cooking and pastries. I’m so glad they were able to do this.

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12

Agree. Continue the French outside of school. Take different electives at school. And IMO you should find a way to work in your Hindi fluency somewhere in the app as well.

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13

Does your school have the option to do “independent study” classes? My daughter completed AP French early, too. Her French teacher agreed to proctor her for a French “cinema class”. She watches French movies and then reviews them in French on her blog; her blog is currently only opened for her teacher to see but hopefully she’ll open it up to others soon. It’s a lot of fun and it’s teaching her more conversational French ,plus the whole family gets to watch some really cool movies.

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14

Another idea to keep up with french
watch a French speaking news channel every day.

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15

Yes, there is and that is definitely an option to consider although its only offered in Senior year so there is still the matter of the Junior year
 But it’s a great idea and something I will consider as I get to that point. Thanks.

16

I had a similar situation when I was in high school. With one language it was that I had completed all of the offerings the school had. With the other, it was because of schedule conflicts (with the first language, if I remember correctly). Thus, I took the classes at a local college my junior year and senior year. Of course, I loved foreign languages and planned on double majoring in both, so I had a distinct reason to continue studying the languages and taking the classes. But if you don’t, or you prefer to explore other opportunities, feel free to do so.

17

Since you are ahead, maybe they would consider letting you do independent studies for 2 years. It’s worth asking
 you never know if you don’t ask. Plus, if the same teacher agrees, that would give you 3 plus years access to the same teacher so that when times comes around to get a LOR for college apps, that teacher would be very well positioned to write you a glowing recommendation

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18

Look into Meetup. It is a way for people with almost any kind of shared interest to get together to talk.

There are forums where independent language learners answer questions on how to go farther. One example is https://forum.language-learners.org/