You don’t have to convince her. When it comes time to register for 9th grade courses, your daughter will be asked, “Did you take a foreign language in 8th grade?” If the answer is yes, “Do you want to continue that language in 9th grade?” If the answer to the first or second questions is no, the next question will be, “These are the languages our school offers, which one would you prefer?”
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I agree with @DramaMama2021 and also will add that kids who end up being successful shooting for the T10s tend to be highly intellectually curious about all subjects and love being challenged academically. Even if they know little about elite admissions preferring the most rigor in the cores, they have ended up taking the hardest courses anyway–so they are set up for having a transcript that will be what the elites want. @panos, I think if your kid is not interested in a new language in 8th or 9th, then just do the greek option outside of school and don’t worry about it: I do not think it makes sense to push a kid to do something they do not want to do just to keep the door fully open for a select group of schools that may not fit her at all once she is old enough to explore college options.
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If you want to explore Option1, I figured this would be useful:
https://hellenic.columbia.edu/omgsp
(^ List of all Modern Greek programs + Academic Association.
Note that some colleges, like Brown, also offer Language Across the Curriculum/CLIL class where a class is taught in English with a supplementary session focusing on Modern Greek texts covering the same issue - a political science class about argeological artefacts, a history course involving the Ottoman empire, an Art History course etc. You get the idea.)
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This makes sense. However, not taking a language at 8th grade and taking an engineering elective, could this be considered “dodging”? Colleges look only at high school years right?
I don’t think your observation gives the complete picture. What they “think” is based on what knowledge they have received on how they will achieve the most competitive application. My D doesn’t have that. She has no clue on how her application will be competitive. At this point she thinks that if she takes straight A’s in STEM subjects she will be get into MIT. And what I’m doing now is trying to become her personal college prep advisor and tell her how her application can become as competitive as possible based on her strengths and weaknesses.
That’s so helpful, thanks!
An alternative approach- my kid (who also fell in love with MIT in the 7th grade- and actually DID attend and graduate) thought from the git-go that there was NO way HE’D GET IN. (And we agreed). He was not the stereotypical “tinkerer and computer program obsessed” kid; zero interest in coding, had never taken apart a microwave oven or blown anything up. Our job was not to become college prep advisors. Our job was to help him become the best version of himself- whatever he thought that would be. Strengths and weaknesses? No. Both parents did enough of that at work where we had to give 360 degree feedback and hire people and fire people. This wasn’t an employee- this was our kid. And we took the entire discussion of college off the table-- it’s not appropriate for a middle schooler. We did “see” colleges- an exhibit in the art museum of a college nearby? Sure. And ice cream afterwards. A fun performance at a college’s arts center. Biking through a campus when it connected to a fun bike trail that ends in a waterfall. That kind of thing. But not actual college talk.
You’ll have PLENTY of college talk in HS!
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You need to disabuse her of that assumption now. This is a great article about MIT admissions that is generally applicable to any elite college. Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions
The podcasts that Yale does also provides great insights on the process and what is important to the Yale AO’s. Again much of this is applicable to any selective/holistic university. https://admissions.yale.edu/podcast
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Please let her know that this isn’t true.
Read this…and scroll down to what should be taken in high school.
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No, I would not worry about that at all. She totally can wait to start a new language in 9th.
My only point about that is maybe she could try a modern language just to see if she likes it better than she thinks, or at least finds it easy, without any real stakes if it is a disaster instead. But that is really just for her possible benefit in the sense of gathering information, I don’t think colleges will actually care what she did in 8th.
Again I don’t think you have to immediately stomp on this dream, but like others I do think you need to be thinking about how to get her out of this mindset eventually. She could literally do everything right, follow all the advice you can find, never fail at anything, and still end up with little or no chance of admission to MIT.
Again she may not be receptive to this message right now, which is fine, but ultimately her goal should be to have a great childhood. Learn a lot, grow a lot, develop in every important way. If she does that AND she has a chance at MIT AND she even still wants that, great, apply and see what happens. If she does that and either changes her mind or doesn’t really have a chance, great, there are many other great colleges.
But over time she needs to get used to the idea that MIT is just a college, and just one college with very few enrollment spots. And so if it doesn’t work out for her, that will be fine as long as she makes sure to have a great childhood and then finds a good college for her.
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huh?
What does this mean?
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No offense but this is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard. MIT has plenty of (smart) well rounded athletes, for example. Did you know they have one of the strongest D3 program in the country?
You say as if this is a bad thing? Whats the problem with that?
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Hey, can one of the @moderators step in and reinforce the above? The sidebar debate on whether one should apply to MIT is off-topic, and waaaaaaasaay too premature for the OP.
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Hey folks, this isn’t about MIT. In addition, this is about a 7th grader, who is years away from applying. Please stay on topic. Thanks!
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