Yes - now that I think of it, this may be the more common route - and it gets in a weighted, AP course in junior year , as well as the subject test advantage, perhaps.
Yeah, my D (who is a junior) is currently doing very well in Spanish 4 Honors, but she’d much rather double up on AP math next year (calc & stats) vs taking AP Spanish, as she just doesn’t enjoy it very much, excellent grades notwithstanding.
If her HS considered her 8th grade class Spanish 1 for placement, and she took 2,3, and 4 through HS junior year, do colleges view that as 3 years or 4? Now I’m a little concerned, actually, as she is going to be looking at some quite selective schools.
in our HS, seniors get priority for scheduling. so if a kid waited for senior year to take the interesting elective, they would be first in line for it. not sure if that works in your school OP…
Generally, 4.
@mathyone wrote:
That is not always the case. The 4th year of Spanish, French, and Latin at our HS is the AP class or the IB SL class.
Hadn’t checked this thread since yesterday (daughter got sick - probably flu even though she had a flu shot.) It’s interesting how different things are at different high schools. At my daughter’s school, both Bio Honors and Chem Honors are prerequisites for AP Bio, Chem Honors is prerequisite for AP Chem, and Physics Honors is prerequisite for AP Physics C. With all other requirements, it is impossible to take all science APs, and actually difficult to take more than one. This plays in to the difficulty of achieving a schedule that will look sufficiently rigorous to highly selective colleges but still allow any freedom for my daughter to choose some classes she really wants. As far as the Latin goes, it seems like most of you think she should take AP Latin to be on the safe side. I’ll discuss this with her when she’s feeling better!
I don’t think colleges are expecting students to take all 3 science AP classes. As you point out, that is 6 science credits. I have not seen any college say they expect more than 4 years of science. My first kid loves science and managed to squeeze 7 science credits into her schedule but her sister isn’t particularly interested in science and will just do the basics plus one AP. Had not even occurred to me that any college would find that insufficient.
My D16 took 3 years of Honors Latin, opted out of the 4th year AP Latin Class (which is the only 4th year option at our school too) She has been accepted to 12 schools - 6 BS/DPT programs. The lack of a 4th year foreign language has not hindered her at all. But she also was not aiming for ivies and the like. Definitely check to see what the language requirement is for some of your kiddo’s potential choices. Also love the question @ucbalumnus posed for the guidance counselor…will the counselor mark your kiddo’s "counselor’s report regarding courseload as “most rigourous”.
It is my understanding that colleges evaluate the rigor of a particular applicant’s course curriculum in the context of the high school the applicant attends. Some high schools offer many AP courses and some offer none. High schools may limit the number of AP classes a student takes and/or require a student to take the corresponding honors course before taking a particular AP course. OP, it sounds like your daughter is a strong student and will have some “more selective” colleges on her list. If the usual Latin sequence for top Latin students in her high school is to continue Latin through the AP level she should do it too, in my opinion.
I suggest you do a google search for the name of colleges your daughter may be interested in followed by the words “common data set”. There will be a chart listing number of years “required” and number of years “recommended” for high school courses in particular subject areas (foreign language, science, etc.). It is in an applicant’s best interest to fall in the “recommended” column wherever possible. You’ll see that some schools recommend 4 years for a foreign language.
If your daughter does take AP Latin, she should consider taking the SAT subject test in Latin the month after the AP exam, in early June. A high enough score in either exam may allow her to place out of a foreign language requirement of the college she attends, which would free up her schedule to take classes she would enjoy more.
It’s worth noting that if she has to take a language in college, well that means less opportunity to take science classes. Since college science courses are generally more rigorous than the AP versions, it makes more sense to finish the language in hs and do the science in college.
I’m always the contrarian when it comes to foreign language. It’s not that I think a student shouldn’t have four years. It’s just that it’s not a deal breaker if they don’t. My oldest had two semesters of community college Arabic (equivalence of three years of high school). Middle son had one semester of community college Italian (equivalence of two years of high school). Oldest was accepted to all his colleges including 7 highly selective colleges. Middle son was accepted to an Ivy.
I don’t recommend their paths, but we let them do what they felt was best, and it worked out ok.
The question misses the point entirely. http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
A student should choose a schedule that makes the most sense for the student-not for a college. Then, when it is time to apply to schools, the student will get into the colleges that colleges believe are the best fit. A student who naturally chooses a certain curriculum will probably be a better fit to some schools than others. The idea of carefully crafting a high school experience that makes an ideal college application misses the point of college admissions entirely.
I agree. If the science class excites her, she should take it. Schools – even very selective schools – want to see a schedule that reflects the student’s declared interests. If your D only had one or two years of language, it would be a different matter, but she’s already met the requirement for most US schools.
High school is more than a race to the best college (then the best internship / job / promotion.) It should be a place to explore and develop interests. That’s why my D2, who is looking toward engineering, is skipping AP Chemistry in her senior year to take AP Music Theory – with my blessing.
However, high school course selection is still oriented toward “general education” in that high schools themselves tend to specify a substantial percentage of the curriculum in graduation requirements (English, math, etc.), and non-open-admission colleges generally expect some baseline of high school course work for students to be prepared for college work. While a high school student can explore and develop interests, s/he may be limited by both the amount of elective space (after filling up much of his/her schedule with requirements and courses expected by non-open-admission colleges) and by what the high school actually offers.
Opportunity for academic exploration tends to be much greater in most colleges*, since students typically choose majors of their interest, and can choose in-major and out-of-major electives for a much larger percentage of their courses than the percentage of electives that they had in high school. The breadth of course offerings is typically much greater in college than in high school.
*Yes, there are a few exceptions where most of or the entire curriculum is specified (e.g. St. John’s College) or where the school is small and/or highly specialized (e.g. Webb Institute, Embry-Riddle, maritime academies, Babson).
One thing I like about the AP language courses is that you finally get to really engage with the literature and culture of the language and not just the mechanics of language learning. I don’t think you should be a slave to what we think colleges want, but they want what they want because it’s part of being an educated person.
This really is about advance CYA, none of us know how adcoms will fine-comb in 2 years. And, it’s hard to answer the question without knowing everything about the hs or OP’s daughter- or what colleges she may target.
I’m usually on the firm side that foreign lang should go to AP, when that’s available and does’t conflict with, say, the much higher level of math some hs offer for stem kids (or DE courses.) But taking that higher math is a choice of rigor and very relevant for stem. So the question is, will those sci electives be rigorous or just some general intro?
About “passion” and highly competitive colleges. It’s not some simple, raw concept, "I love throwing pots, I’ll take ceramics II instead of xxx. It really refers more to pursuing the relevant rigorous courses and other experiences for the major or direction you claim to want in college.
I liked youdon’tsay’s comment that you make choices strategically.
I don’t actually know what colleges “want” but life is too short not to pursue passions! Don’t let the “perfect” be an enemy to her “good.”
Senior year my daughter had signed up for Spanish 4…but when doing a summer AP Bio prep program her teacher was telling her how great Anatomy and Physiology would be (which that teacher also teaches) …As my daughter wants to be a doctor, she chose to take A&P. I personally think HS should be about exploring options as well as taking advanced classes.
But like others say, you have to take into account what possible (realistic) colleges you are interested might require.