While I agree Hamilton is a reach for all, we don’t have enough information to say what you are saying. Having only 3 years of FL does keep some students out of certain Hamilton peer schools.
For example, Wesleyan AOs have directly stated that an applicant without four years of all five core subjects is highly unlikely to be accepted. I’m not saying Hamilton operates the same way, but I expect three years of FL is often seen as disadvantage/weakness…and none of us know if that’s enough to keep someone from being admitted at Hamilton. We do know at some schools it is.
We also know that admission policies and processes change often at colleges, partially because there is so much turnover among admissions leadership and personnel from year to year. This is something that doesn’t get enough attention on CC. New leadership often means things are done differently, and what was in place last year may not be this year.
^ OPs son has 2 years of Latin,ie., HS level 2. It’s only 3 if, pushing it, Latin2+Greek1 can be woven into a cohesive narrative (=not the same language but overlapping periods and geographical areas bringing information about Ancient Mediterranean cultures) and not Level4 or AP in any.
It may or may not matter depending on the college - but the list is good and this wouldn’t matter at his safeties so he’s sure to get into a couple places.
I suggested OP write all colleges about the Latin2+Greek1 matter - no need wasting an app if a selective college will see this as instantly disqualifying.
You suggested this approach, which sounds like unnecessarily calling into question a potential issue on the application. Particularly since no schools he is applying to have 3 or 4 years of foreign language as anything other than “Recommended.”
Has anybody had any success with this kind of direct approach? In particular, has anyone ever emailed a potential college about a high school course selection concern issue, and had the college write back anything that would suggest you not apply there?
I assume the reply will be “Thank you for writing. We recommend 3 or 4 years in a foreign language, but less than 3 or 4 years is not disqualifying. We take a holistic approach, etc.”
I would be shocked if any small LAC in the US would write back “Sorry, you’re disqualified.” They would know it would end up on a chat board like this and keep certain folks from applying in the future that they might actually want to admit for some reason.
Obviously @blossom is more the authority, but for what it is worth, I have helped my S24 look into a lot of Classics, Classical Studies, Latin, and so on majors and minors. There is obviously a lot of variety in terms of what, if any, Latin or Greek they require, but I think a nearly universal message that emerged was something along the lines of if you are REALLY serious about Classics (like as in maybe go to grad school serious), you should probably be learning both, even if you are more expert in one.
So I do think that supports the idea that at least a demonstrated interest in both is a possible positive. Which doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have a lot more to learn still if you were serious about actually doing something with your knowledge. But I agree it could fall into that category of exceptions to normal rules of thumbs where a kid challenged themselves in their own way as consistent with specific interests.
My two cents is I would not necessarily see it as risky, but I also agree I am not sure a lot of colleges would give a definitive answer as to what a reader or admissions committee will end up thinking about it. So I guess my feeling is if the kid ended up with a good mix of Likelies, Targets, and Reaches by normal criteria, I would not see this as necessary, although again would also not see it as problematic either.
Only if it’s a real concern, which it doesn’t seem to be.
At highly selective colleges, “Recommended” should be read as “required unless you attend a poorly resourced school”.
It’ll be VERY obvious because the automatic system that transforms the transcript into a summary box will show FL 2 or Latin2, so writing about it (either in Add’n Info on CommonApp or through Admissions) would direct attention to the fact this level2 isn’t the whole story and your son has a plan of sorts, challenged himself in an interesting way, etc. (vs. “Found Latin boring and gave up”, which could also be inferred). It’s all in the wording.
However he should be fine at 2-3 from his list, so as long as he’s okay with his list, he can roll the dice. He’s likely to have quite a few good choices.
At risk of muddying the waters, I wonder if taking x years of Latin + Greek couldn’t be seen as qualitatively comparable to taking x years of a modern language.
One goal of taking x years of a modern language is to acquire communication facility. It makes sense to have four years of Mandarin, or Russian, or French, or Spanish, and having one year of each feels sort of dilettantish. But having 2+2 of Latin and Greek is more like the sort of thing you’d see a religious studies or classics major doing, no? Coy catch phrases aside (“Semper ubi sub ubi”) most of us aren’t running around speaking in the language of Virgil or Homer. If I were an admissions officer, I don’t think I’d be hair-splitting about something like this.
(that said, as @Mwfan1921 mentioned, different admissions committees will have different viewpoints on this and gambling without checking – or attempting to extrapolate from one person’s admissions experience – seems foolish. Just ask!)
Yes, exactly, that’s why I suggested “packaging” it this way on the application. Although there wouldn’t be any difficult grammar at this level, it still would show consistency and cultural learning, with vocabulary and linguistic structure that can be quite different, hence intellectual gymnastics for the language and critical thinking through basic comparisons.
I like being on the same wavelength
(I trudged through Latin but loved Ancient Greek, unfortunately it was unrequited.)
I’m just hoping OP does something with our advice because if the software summarizes them separately, academic rigor may appear quite differently.
Ultimately OP is likely to have acceptances and the list makes sense. It’s just one little tidbit that stands out.
S25 applied ED1 to Middlebury tonight. He also sent applications EA to Gettysburg, Union, Hobart, Marist, and Binghamton; and an RD application to UCONN.
ED1: Middlebury (October 26)
ED2: Hamilton
EA (all safeties - October 26)
Binghamton
Gettysburg
Hobart
Marist
Union
This is a good list, I don’t know if Vassar is a reach given both parents went there, I was going to advise not using ED2 there, in case your son got in, and he didn’t really want to go. Good Luck!
Thanks, yeah. He loves Vassar when we’ve visited over the years and during this process, but thus far seems intent on applying early elsewhere and so we are letting him make the call.
We have advised that he has a great shot at admission if he applies ED1 or 2 at Vassar, but he has advised us that he’d like to know if he could get into some other schools first before having to accept an admission to Vassar. I interpret this as wanting to chart his own course, but we shall see how things shake out. He’s still very much interested in Vassar.
First, beware that Binghamton has become very difficult to get into. Surprisingly so.
Second, this year (2025) is the largest number of high school graduates in history. That means the highest number of college applicants ever! So, every school will be harder to get into than it was a few years ago. Or even last year. Plan accordingly for safeties. Your current safeties are more like targets, and your targets more like reaches.
Dickinson is very good for environmental science. So is Hobart & William Smith.
According to The NY Times, the 2023-34 cycle produced the largest number of college applications in history. There is no reason to expect it to be any different this year.
Next year, however, the number of high school graduates decreases dramatically, a trend which will continue for years, so college applications are expected to decrease as well, some even saying that the number will drop off a Cliff.
I would love to know -if this data is available- the distinction between the number of college applications, and the number of students applying to colleges. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence about the average student applying to more colleges now than X years ago - are the numbers out there anywhere?
I like being on the same wavelength 