My DS25 took Spanish all through elementary and middle school. He was able to take the state exam and place out of the high school language requirement. This gave him room to take other, more rigorous classes along the way, but will it hurt him? I see many many of the schools on his list with at least 1-2 years of high school foreign language as a requirement. His transcript does indicate “Spanish 1, Grade A/95” and the year listed as pre-high school.
Depends on the selectivity of the university. Highly selective universities will expect some foreign language study in high school.
Most selective colleges have expectations that go beyond graduation requirements. Simply meeting HS requirements isn’t sufficient.
That said, there are plenty of less-selective schools where it is not an issue
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Selective universities will want to see 3 or 4 years of foreign language. Some will accept fewer than that. Less selective universities will be more lenient so there will definitely be plenty of options for him. But, yes, it will likely hurt his chances if he is shooting for T30 schools.
Foreign language classes can be rigorous, especially at higher levels. Another option is taking foreign language through dual enrollment - they are often faster-paced and more rigorous, if that is what he is seeking. Perhaps consider adding a dual enrollment foreign class next year - he could do two semesters which would be the equivalent of two (or more) high school language years. Whether that’s worth doing depends on the kind of colleges he wants to apply to.
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Rigor by itself isn’t the sole point. Top colleges in the US want to see diversity of excellence. Even MIT wants engineers who are strong in art, literature, history, etc.
What you might do is look at universities in the UK. Each student focuses solely on their own major, so the admissions folks only care about demonstrated excellence in that field and related fields. A STEM kid (for example) with no language won’t bother them at all.
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Colleges that want to see foreign language are unlikely to be satisfied by level 1 or only pre-high-school course work.
In general, high school graduation requirements are not necessarily the same as what various colleges want to see for admission.
I agree with what everyone has said. Your child needs to be talking with her college placement advisor or guidance counselor.
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I appreciate all of the responses. Unfortunately, their school did not encourage, nor do most of their peers take foreign language. The only language they offered was Spanish. sigh
Perhaps this is something this can be explained in an optional supplemental essay?
If your child took Spanish all through elementary and middle school, I’m confused about why their transcript lists Spanish 1. Wouldn’t the last middle school class be far beyond Spanish 1?
It is just what the NYS exam is called on their transcript. It’s not a course name. Sorry that wasn’t clear. It’s a high school level placement exam…similar to a regents exam.
Okay, thanks! I wonder if your child’s school would consider changing the name on the transcript to reflect that it is a Spanish proficiency exam. Calling it Spanish 1 is highly misleading and does a huge disservice to students.
Also, if your child is able to take a dual enrollment course at a local community college or state college for two semesters next year, that would help a lot and his level would then be apparent by the college level he is enrolled in.
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Doing a little bit of research, it looks like NYS only requires 1 year of world language as a graduation requirement. Taking that “placement exam” seems to have exempted this student from having to take further world languages in order to meet high school graduation requirements.
If you think your child’s Spanish proficiency is greater than “Level 1” - they could take the AP Spanish exam to prove advanced language proficiency.
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The SUNYs do not make it easy to find high school course requirements or recommendations for admission on their web sites. It does look like they are different for each campus. Their common data sets seem to be the easiest way to find the information – these indicate that Binghamton requires 3 years of foreign language, while Buffalo and Stony Brook recommend 3 years of foreign language (but does not require any).
If the student’s actual proficiency level is higher than level 1, then perhaps taking Spanish 3 or higher in 12th grade could help here. Or take Spanish at a local college, starting at the appropriate placement level to get to a higher level than would be possible in high school (college foreign language courses cover material at a faster pace, so one semester of college is like one year or more of high school in foreign language).
Of course, there can be a big gap between high school level 1 and AP 3 level proficiency, so a student whose proficiency is higher than high school level 1 but lower than AP 3 level may not be able to get a passing (3+) score on the AP exam. But if the student’s proficiency is significantly higher than high school level 1 to the point that a 3+ score on the AP exam is likely, then that may help.
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Adding that they have not taken Spanish since 7th grade so that is a four year gap. I don’t think they can jump into AP level Spanish. They also have their schedule set for next year, so there is no option or room for them to take on another class.
Also, your student is a junior so he’s already missed the AP exam this year and taking it next year won’t help for college admissions.
Even though his schedule is “set” I would highly recommend revising the schedule to add some level of Spanish even if it means dropping something else. To be very blunt, having zero foreign language classes on his high school transcript is going to be a problem.
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If the student cannot get to a higher level in Spanish in 12th grade, then college planning needs to account for that deficiency:
- Safeties must be colleges which do not require or recommend high school foreign language higher than what the student has. Could include open admission community colleges for the transfer pathway to a four year school.
- Any college which “recommends” a higher level than the student has should be moved to a higher category in the safety/likely/match/reach categories.
- Any college which “requires” a higher level than the student has is not worth applying to.
Note also that some colleges have foreign language graduation requirements (that are higher than high school level 1 proficiency).
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So just to give a little context, from what I have seen of colleges discussing this, for them the study of non-native languages is often not just about acquiring a basic level of proficiency. It is also about learning about language itself (call it a background for Linguistics, but also all the other fields where language is an important topic), and also often about different cultures, different literatures, and so on.
So an interest and demonstrated ability in HS language classes is not just proof of proficiency, it is indicative of broader interests and abilities that may translate to a variety of college classes.
OK, but it sounds like the cake is baked in this case, meaning you are just stuck with what happened. My point then in giving you this context is to help you think about other ways to try to satisfy them. Like how else could your kid evidence an interest in other cultures? How else could they evidence in interest in language itself? Maybe not through classes at this point, but you could get creative with activities, maybe essays, and such.
I’m not guaranteeing any of this will produce any given college admissions result, but I think some effort to demonstrate such attributes could potentially help with colleges that look for those attributes among their admitted students.
He may be able to take the CLEP test to show proficiency at the Spanish 2 level (which is what most schools are looking for).
Your son has met the foreign language requirements for his state. If only Spanish is offered and it was also a scheduling issue, his guidance counselor can note that.
The best way to know if it will hurt his chances at any specific school is to look in the C5 section of the Common Data Set. Some will list 2 (or more) years as required and some just as suggested. We did run into some schools where it differed by major.
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I agree that the student needs to play catch up at this point, but depending on the student’s level, all is not lost.
As the parent explained, the student is at a higher level than just Spanish 1 (contrary to the misleading transcript notation). So if the student takes Spanish 3 or Spanish 4 senior year and perhaps explains in the extra information section of the common app that levels 1-2 or 1-3 were taken in middle school, I think many colleges would accept this. Perhaps not the tippy top colleges, but likely a majority of U.S. colleges. The absolutely critical thing is that the student does enroll in Spanish senior year.
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I understood the OP to be saying they could not change the senior schedule, and I also understand that in New York this just means the proficiency expected after one year of HS classes on a normal track. Meaning they could have started at Spanish 2 in 9th grade, but also didn’t have to do any Spanish at all to graduate, so did not through 9-11 so far.
And even then that test was back in seventh grade, so at this point it might not actually be possible for the OP’s kids to actually take something as advanced as Spanish 3 or 4 and do well.
Of course if all that is incorrect, and the kid actually does have what would be the third or fourth normal-track HS Spanish class as a viable option for their senior year, then I agree that would be the best single thing to do.
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They do not have that as an option and no, I don’t think they can jump into a higher level Spanish class at this point. I’ve just requested a meeting with the guidance counselor and the principal. There must have been similar situations in the past or even within my son’s grade, so I want to hear what they recommend.
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