Despite my advice to the contrary, my D26 has asked her math and bio teachers for LORs. I strongly feel she should have a humanities teacher in the mix. But I’m trying to 1) let her own the process and 2) give deference to the college counselor’s expertise, who says because D26 is applying engineering this is ok.
Hope it doesn’t backfire….
Different sport but same!!! Waiting for that weight to be lifted off her once she commits! D26 still has 3 weeks of school left, can’t send final transcripts till late June!!!
Finals week next week. C26 currently working on a physics project that is part of the final. In a good mood for now but I suspect by the end of the weekend will be a bit more frazzled… not that we normally approve of doing this but will keep fridge and freezer stocked with monster and ice cream as well as healthier stuff! Then at the end of next week they are officially finished junior year …
Man,I envy the athletes who will know where they’re going by the time senior year starts! We’re going to be on tenterhooks until end January, assuming early apps get in, and perhaps longer if the two most desired options don’t go their way …
Hey all.
I’m reading many of your children have already wrapped up Junior Year. 4 more weeks for us until the last final is done.
Putting this out here for those, like us, who are having college students next year for the first time and may be interested in this type of stuff.
These are two books (same author) - a parent version & a student version.
I’ve read the parent version, purchased the book for our child and have made it required reading material for this summer. She has expressed interest in reading it as well so she’s not being forced.
I’m now reading the student version myself.
Some good food-for-thought ideas in the content, in my view. ymmv.
Anyways… just wanted to share.
Parent Version:
Student Version:
I got that book for D19, but didn’t know there was a parent version.
In the spirit of sharing helpful books, this is one our C25 found valuable through application essay writing last summer and fall. Congrats to all of your juniors finishing their school year!!
I’ve posted here before about S26’s desire to be finished with Japanese after 3 years. He is now done and eked out an A- in the class. I’m glad for that and he’s clearly done with Japanese. However, he said that he’d be into taking Italian next year instead. We’d use the same company we used for Japanese for accredited language instruction, and it would appear on his transcript for his high school as Italian 1A and 1B.
He’s choosing Italian because my husband’s family is Italian and many members of his family speak the language (he says he wishes he had chosen Italian as a freshman starting out). It’s likely what he would continue if required in college.
How might this switch be viewed by admissions committees? I know the prevailing wisdom for selective schools is “4 years of the same language” but is there some value in taking 3 years plus 1 year of a new one? The alternative is to leave it be and go with the 3 years of Japanese.
Supposedly this is pretty much the same as just taking the 3 years.
If he wants to take a year of Italian for his own enjoyment, that’s great, but I don’t think it would add much to college apps.
Since he has already completed three years of a single language, I don’t think it will hurt him in college admissions. It might be useful as an additional honors class (if honors is offered) or if he is considering referencing his Italian heritage in his personal or supplemental essays.
A first year of a foreign language could be honors?
At our kids’ HS it doesn’t matter how hard it is, introductory level classes in any subject are not honors. Typically honors weighting doesn’t kick in until junior-senior level unless it’s an AP (which are restricted until junior year).
Same at ours, my understanding being this is largely because UCs don’t recognize honors in an intro course (as in they don’t get a weighted GPA bump). But from CC it seems many schools both in CA and elsewhere do have freshman /intro subjects honors options.
Good point about the first year of foreign language (I forgot - it seems so long ago 
). A vast majority of our high school students took the first year of foreign language in middle school. All the successive years of foreign language (II, III, and IV) are offered at both the academic and honors level. My daughter took honors foreign language all three years of high school and will take the AP course in that language next year.
I think if your kid wants to take Italian because he’s really interested in it, he should regardless of whether or not it “looks good” on a college application.
Of course. I was looking for a take on whether schools would see it as 4 years or not.
Generally, no, and you’ll see a number of schools do specify the same language when they mention high school preparation. That said, i guess it would basically be regarded as an academic elective, which is fine too.
Thanks! I was looking through the CDS reports of a couple schools he has listed as reaches and they say “4 years recommended,” which I took to mean the same language. But I wasn’t sure.
To be clear: I agree he should only do it if he wants to and I frankly don’t care either way. But I want him to have a realistic expectation of his chances. If it’s a reach for all who apply and he hasn’t fulfilled their recommendations, maybe he only does this for a very, very select few that he wants to shoot his shot for. And he puts more effort in to apply to more schools that say “2-3 years”
I think the actual college websites always have much more information about what they’re looking for. For example, in varying tiers of competitiveness, Harvard says “Four years of a single foreign language”, UIUC “ Completion through the second level of any 1 language other than English” (that’s required, they recommend 4), Boulder says “2-3 consecutive years, in the same language” etc. these pages are also usually more detailed about what they want to see in math, science and history. I just google something like “collegename high school requirements” and it usually brings the appropriate page up.
Dropping in from the 2025 group. My son had a scheduling conflict with spanish 4 this past year and ended up taking a year of latin instead. He likes history and plans to go to law school so figured, why not. His guidance office had shared this with the kids. Foreign Language Requirements for College
Sorry if someone else already shared. It doesn’t necessarily answer your exact question, but you can look at schools and see if they even say they want 4 years. My son reached out to the admissions office for the schools that said 4 needed to explain situation. They all reassured him it was fine. The super competitive schools may be different, but I doubt that would be the thing that keeps your kid from the school they want. Life is short. Senior year is hard. They should enjoy at least some of their classes. Frankly I regret my kid pushing himself to take some of the classes he did because he felt that was what he was supposed to do. Best of luck!
Edited to add, reaching out to admissions for this reason gave him a very organic way to demonstrate interest for the schools that track it.
I can add to this with D19’s experience. CC will always say “recommended actually means required” or that for example if a school says “3-4 years” you should be going for 4 years. Well, maybe, maybe not. She dropped AP Spanish from her (already busy) senior year schedule and still got into NYU with 3 years of foreign language. She also only had 3 years of science, not including physics (did bio, chem and APES), though she did have 5 years of math. And though I would never, ever recommend this, she didn’t do the optional essay for Fordham (I didn’t know this until after - they’d sent her a fee waiver so she just dropped them an application when she submitted her ED app). She got admitted to both schools.
That list is not wholly accurate. Brandeis caught my eye as D19 considered it for a hot minute. That table says 4 required, but it is actually 2-3 years What We Look For | Apply | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University
So suggest always double check with the actual college website.
