Would you let your child apply to a college if they don't fit all the requirements?

[TheApprentice]

There is an LAC that my son would like to apply to. Here's the thing. In the general "requirements" section, it states that there are no minimums, but it's recommended to have 4 Englishes, 4 Maths, etc. Except for homeschoolers. They want to see 3 foreign language credits; ds has 2. But all the other areas he meets. It appears they have slightly different requirements for homeschoolers. Oh, and they want 2 SAT Subject tests (just for homeschoolers). He will be taking those because other schools want to see them, too.

 

What do you think? Is it a waste of time to apply?

 

 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I would go for it if the school seems like a fit in all other areas.  

 

[creekland]

If his scores fit theirs and it's a place he wants to attend, yes, I'd go for it.  It just wouldn't be the only place he applied, but that sounds true in your situation too.

[Carol in Cal.]

I'd go for it, and I'd schedule in that third year of FL, and make it clear that it was about to happen.

Concordia Villages is the program I would use.  4 weeks in the summer, voila! = 1 year of high school FL

[Teachin'Mine]

Your son might want to email or call the admissions rep for his area and discuss this with them.  It's good to have a contact and only they can tell you what would be acceptable.  I'd be very surprised if the 2 vs 3 years of foreign language is a deal breaker, but the rest of his application should be strong.  Even if he doesn't want to contact them, I'd still say it's worth an application.

[Reefgazer]

Go for it, and sign him up for a third semester of foreign language and say that it is "in progress".  The worst they can do is tell you no.

[JanetC]

How selective is the school? If they accept more than 50% of applicants, they may have more wiggle room than a school that accepts 10% of applicants.

 

Check TechWife's list of acceptances from last year and see if any homeschoolers got in, and see if the place is homeschool friendly at all or if they put in those extra requirements because they just don't want to bother.

 

Schools and adcoms can be more/less homeschool friendly, and it can vary a bit from year to year. DD had an interview at a LAC where, she said, the interviewer didn't ask /directly/ whether she had any friends, but seemed to imply that she must be a hermit of some sort because she is homeschooled.

[klmama]

If his test scores fit their profile or he has any kind of special interest that would make him a great fit for them and vice versa, I'd have him apply anyway.  Even better if you can squeeze in one more year of foreign language.  If it's too late to do that this semester, you could register for him at a CC for 2nd semester, which should be worth a full high school credit - would it be possible to prep now for doing that second semester?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheApprentice]

This school has a 30% acceptance rate. Unfortunately, my son can not take a semester of foreign language at the community college because it is not offered there. He has 2 years of Japanese.

[at the beach]

This school has a 30% acceptance rate. Unfortunately, my son can not take a semester of foreign language at the community college because it is not offered there. He has 2 years of Japanese.

 

I don't think it is a waste of time to apply. I think it would be better if you had a third year. Can you come up with a home-based course for him for Japanese 3? It may not be perfect, but you could give it a try. If you do this, you could explain in the course description that this class was home-based due to the college not offering more advanced studies in the language. Maybe you could find a tutor for him. Rosetta Stone offers Japanese, I believe. I know it's often viewed as insufficient for credit, but you could add other things to it to strengthen it.

[katilac]

Certainly. 

[JanetC]

This school has a 30% acceptance rate. Unfortunately, my son can not take a semester of foreign language at the community college because it is not offered there. He has 2 years of Japanese.

 

For a school with that low of an acceptance rate, your other stats and qualifications will need to be strong. You might try googling "schoolname accepted student profile" and see where you fit in with the accepted students.

 

My DD has to do her applications in order order of likely acceptances - foundation schools first, then reach schools. I would classify this as a reach due to the low acceptance rate, even if you did meet all the requirements perfectly.

[katilac]

If you can't pull off the next sequence of Japanese at home (I know we couldn't!), how about doing more of a lateral course? Something like Japanese Cinema, Japanese Culture? 

 

It might be worth it just to keep what is already learned fresh. It might be fun to focus on pop culture, slang, songs, etc. 

[Michelle_NC]

Absolutely - and tell them that the 3rd year foreign language is not offered.  Colleges know that students come from all sorts of high school situations.

[creekland]

Japanese for 2 years might be more attractive than the oodles of Spanish and French taking students they see.

 

Is there anything offered online that could count for a third year if you wanted to have one in progress?

[Julie of KY]

I'd certainly apply. I got admitted to medical school without the required number of biology hours (oops!). After I turned down everyone else, I got a letter saying I was deficient by 3 hours of biology. I wrote them a letter asking them to waive the requirement saying another 3 credit hours of random biology won't effect my medical career and let the rest of my transcript stand as I'm teachable.

 

[FaithManor]

Japanese for 2 years might be more attractive than the oodles of Spanish and French taking students they see.

 

Is there anything offered online that could count for a third year if you wanted to have one in progress?

We have a waiver on foreign language from Cornell. While they appeared to be rather insistent that ds have three years of the same foreign language, when I wrote them a letter explaining that we did not have the resources for a third year of Icelandic so he would have a year of Danish as well as personal studies in Norwegian and can read Harry Potter in Icelandic and translate into English while reading aloud to the family in addition to a year of high school level Latin, they suddenly became very accommodating. We still aren't certain if he will apply or not. They weren't quite so enthusiastic about his lack of SAT II's even though he has AP biology and World History on top of Calc 1 online DE. It is a huge amount of money, and time for us to try to get seats for SAT II's as very few schools offer them, and most of those are 2 hours away. Cornell is not actually as strong, for his particular niche field, as others on his list so we may yet skip it. Still thinking about it.

 

My cousin's daughter was accepted at numerous colleges without three years of the same. She had grown up in Germany (pre-K through 8th grade) - military family - and was fluent. She was also almost fluent in French so took a year of Spanish in high school, got bored, and didn't do anymore foreign language. I am pretty certain they cared a lot more about being German literate from having lived there than about the actual credits.

 

If the transcript is strong in other areas and in hobbies/extra curricular activities, then I think it makes up for a single ding on the requirements. If you don't mind the possible waste of applications fees, go ahead and apply. I try to remind my kids that "no" is not the end of the world and there are plenty of worthy colleges in this country. A rejection letter is not a statement of their ability, their character, or their education. Sometimes students need to be reminded of this.