No.
My earlier posts explained in more depth, but the answer is still no.
I highly doubt that. College level can go very high.
It’s not that deep. Six of one; one half dozen of the other.
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Your daughter needs to take some language in HS. She does not need AP. 3 years are enough.
Seal of Biliteracy can be your certification for Greek, however it will not get you off the hook.
Some colleges require foreign language to get a degree. In case of my DD she got very lucky. Her second language was not available in HS but was available in college and she was able to test out of it instead of taking 3 semesters of Spanish, French or Chinese.
Some privates allow you to study abroad and take any language but that is more exception than rule.
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Yeah this looks like the best next option if the dual-enrollment strategy doesn’t work out (which in my understanding so far) would be the most “efficient” option.
What do you mean?
Our counselor told us that she checks that box with the 3 HS language credits she received already, but those might not be sufficient for competitive colleges.
She also told us that the Seal of Biliteracy won’t show up in her college application at all as it is awarded in the end of 12th grade (after her applications are sent). So yes I’m not counting on that either.
Either option is fine for colleges - Greek or another language. One won’t be more impressive to colleges, although one may be preferable to your kid.
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False statement.
DD took exam in 11th grade and was certified for Seal of Biliteracy in the middle of 11th. So she put it in her common app as award. Seal is affixed to her HS diploma, but she got certification message more than a year earlier.
Just ask permission from school to be tested earlier.
My understanding is that the most competitive colleges want to see 4 years each of English, math, science, social studies, and foreign language during high school. If you’re skipping any, there would need to be a really good explanation, and “I already knew another 2nd language” wouldn’t be good enough.
Less competitive colleges don’t care, and are happy with the student achieving whatever minimums are required for graduation.
Why are you adverse to your child learning a 2nd foreign language? It can only be useful for them to have another language under their belt.
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My concern is the time investment needed to reach language X from zero up to AP level vs. continuing learning Greek. From my understanding based on the responses so far, this will be the same for college application purposes, as long as Greek is put in her HS transcript (maybe with dual enrollment).
I think putting her time and effort elsewhere (and possibly achieving better grades in her other classes) is preferable.
You’ve used a lot of “I” statements, so I wonder: what does your daughter think about this? Does she want to continue Greek, possibly at the college-level? Does she have any interest in learning a new language, or is she also averse to this? What would she like her schedule to look like in high school? And would she find it manageable to have a rigorous STEM-focused high school schedule while taking college-level Green classes (which can also be very rigorous at the higher levels)?
I hate to sound like a total snob- but there are kids my kids HS who reach AP level in a foreign language who do not take ANY other AP’s. They aren’t the gung-ho, work hard, incredibly academic kids… they aren’t staying up until 2 am studying Spanish verbs.
I think you have completely over-estimated how hard and time-consuming language study is. You clearly do NOT want your kid to start Spanish or French next year- which is your prerogative- but I think you need to drop the “it’s too time-consuming” line because it’s not true.
And your D achieving better grades in her other classes? That for SURE is a killer in terms of competitive college applications! Your D won’t be solving a knotty problem in String Theory during the time she could be taking Spanish 1. Most kids are able to balance their entire 8th grade curriculum without undue pressure.
Personally? You are over-thinking this. Have her sign up for whichever language is the most convenient for her schedule and stop ruminating.
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My understanding is that the competitive colleges disagree. They want to see students studying a foreign language as part of their high school schedule. Saturday school cultural and language programs are great extracurriculars: my kids used to do one (it sort of fell apart during COVID, and I regret that we didn’t get back into it), and I know many people whose kids do them, and they are great and I think they look good on college applications. But everyone I know who does them ALSO studies a foreign language at school. And my understanding is that this is what competitive colleges want to see.
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She’s even more opposed. But if I get the final picture and the result is that there’s no other way, then I think she will do it regardless.
Every kid is different and has different strengths and weaknesses. Bringing up some examples from your personal experience doesn’t mean that these examples apply to every kid. My kid is bright but struggles with time management.
But if she had to decide: would she prefer taking college level Greek or starting a new language at high school level? Honestly, work-wise a new high school level language might actually be more manageable for her. Something to consider. But perhaps she loves Greek and would prefer to continue that and challenge herself with higher levels.
There is NO better time to work on time management skills than 8th grade.
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She would prefer continuing Greek if possible. I don’t know about comparing the workload, but we can also support her with Greek if she asks. We don’t speak any other language so she would be on her own with anything else.
For her it’s much more than working with time management skills, but I don’t want to go into sensitive and probably irreleveant details in a public forum.
I’ll share with you what I told another parent of a middle school student who didn’t want to do something that colleges want: I predict a new thread in 4 years time, “Will colleges understand the rationale for this schedule?” So to get a jump start - No, they will most assuredly not understand.
Or this thread in 5 years time: “Rejected from every T30. What now?”
Anyway, best of luck.
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That’s exactly the reason I posted my question here. I want to satisfy the college admission requirements. Again from my understanding so far this is possible in our case without starting another language from scratch, but under certain conditions. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Engineering is truly an elective. Especially at the 8th grade level without high school physics and calculus, a student is taking this for fun.
Even when your D is in high school and choosing HS electives, keep in mind that colleges do not require or expect a high school student to have taken specialized engineering classes. You can go to the most selective engineering schools with a good high school background in math and fundamental sciences. Even in college, engineers often spend the first year studying math, physics, and chemistry.
Colleges do like to see language study in high school. We have lots of kids come in to our HS with heritage languages, or strong language skills from bilingual programs in elementary and/or middle school. They either continue a language they have already started, or start a new language in 9th grade.
Since your D’s heritage language isn’t offered in HS, the most straightforward options would be to either start a new language in 8th grade, or take another elective in 8th grade, and start a new language in 9th grade. Either way would be fine as far as colleges are concerned.
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I totally get your perspective. My daughter also hated that she was forced to take French in HS. She also attended private program for other language like 10 years.
French was waste of time and she never mastered it, but there was no way around it.
Actually one of criteria to choose college was to avoid taking foreign language at all cost in college. She indeed avoided it and is very happy about it.
She is using her second language in medical office were she works and plans to use it through her life in her career.
Just go with the flow, make her take waterver language is offered in HS and get these stupid credits. Then forget about these classes as people forget any other classes they hate…
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Maybe this will explain what many are saying in a more direct fashion.
Foreign language requirements for the top schools you are trying to position your daughter for do not view language requirements as a simple box to be checked with something like a certification. They want students that have taken a well rounded rigorous set of courses in HS that include math, science, English, social sciences and a foreign language.
Using a heritage language to fulfill the foreign language requirement will raise some level of skepticism. Perhaps the skepticism can be addressed with advanced college level courses, but you need to understand that it will likely raise questions. If your kid chooses an alternate language, including Latin, she avoids the issue.
Final choice is up to your daughter and you, but I would avoid using the heritage language to fulfill the FL requirment.
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I like this statement. Apparently AP Chinese is one of the AP where most takers get 5s. I didn’t understand how until I realized it’s a test offered in China. Even with 12 years of Chinese School, the school here in San Diego pretty much told my kids they won’t pass the AP test.
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