Latin as foreign language-how many years?

[pjssully]

Hi,

I just have a few questions about Latin as a foreign language for high school/college prep.  My son has taken 2 years and he will be a sophomore next year.  He is wavering about whether he wants to do another year-he really doesn't like it or the amount of time it takes.(online course)  But he is getting a 99%, so he understands it very well.

 

I have heard that some colleges are not accepting Latin as a foreign language any longer.  Has anyone heard this?  Also, how many years of foreign language do most colleges want these days?  He won't be going to a top notch school, but will be competing somewhat for UW Madison, if he continues to pursue his plan as of now.  I don't want to base everything on that school, as he may change his mind.

 

Would it be wise for him to choose another foreign language at this point?  He could still get in three years of another language, though I know he won't be happy about any foreign language.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

pam

[dirty ethel rackham]

My oldest did 4 years of Latin and we did not run into any schools that would not accept it for their foreign language requirement for admissions. I did run across a school that wanted a modern language for the college's graduation requirement. To be competitive at a school like UW Madison, they do prefer 4 years of foreign language. Some schools like to see 4 years of the same language. I would call up several colleges that you think your son is interested in to see what they prefer. Keep in mind that what a school lists for its minimum requirements is not necessarily what will gain acceptance.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[EKS]

I've heard over and over that some schools don't accept Latin, but I never found one where it was actually true.

[snowbeltmom]

Hi,

I just have a few questions about Latin as a foreign language for high school/college prep.  My son has taken 2 years and he will be a sophomore next year.  He is wavering about whether he wants to do another year-he really doesn't like it or the amount of time it takes.(online course)  But he is getting a 99%, so he understands it very well.

 

I have heard that some colleges are not accepting Latin as a foreign language any longer.  Has anyone heard this?  Also, how many years of foreign language do most colleges want these days?  He won't be going to a top notch school, but will be competing somewhat for UW Madison, if he continues to pursue his plan as of now.  I don't want to base everything on that school, as he may change his mind.

 

Would it be wise for him to choose another foreign language at this point?  He could still get in three years of another language, though I know he won't be happy about any foreign language.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

pam

My kids are also not fans of studying a foreign language.  They take three years of Latin.  Three years has been acceptable everywhere they have applied, but they also select colleges based on whether or not they require a student to study a foreign language in college.

I have heard that some colleges are not accepting Latin as a foreign language any longer.  Has anyone heard this?  Also, how many years of foreign language do most colleges want these days?  He won't be going to a top notch school, but will be competing somewhat for UW Madison, if he continues to pursue his plan as of now.  I don't want to base everything on that school, as he may change his mind.

 

 

There's two issues here.  One is acceptance of a given for language for admissions purposes.  The second is acceptance of a foreign language for graduation purposes once admitted.  I only know of one college that doesn't accept Latin for admissions, the Air Force Academy, which is obviously, a rather specialized place.  So, I wouldn't worry at all about suitability of Latin for acceptance.  If a smaller college doesn't offer Latin, the student can't continue taking it, and may have difficulties in testing out of language requirements for graduation, which they might be able to do had they studied an offered language.  If all the colleges you are looking at are large state schools or others that offer Latin, I wouldn't worry about this at all.

[frogger]

My son is in exactly the same place. 2 years high school Latin but really wants to take programming and multiple math classes and must continue on with his variety of English Communication courses, etc. so he doesn't want to continue Latin as it won't really help him reach his goal despite the fact he has leaned a lot from it. He has worked on it for four years and is translating so I wish he could get more credit for where he is at than just Latin 2 but I haven't figured out how. 

 

In looking at college after college I have found what GGardner stated. Though most will accept Latin for fulfilling the entrance requirement that leaves him with taking a "living language" at the college level when he gets there for requirement purposes. But every college is different  which makes the search frustrating especially since every website is a hide and seek game for the specific info you are looking for. Often they will state that X number of foreign language credits are required but of course they don't mention Latin so it takes a little searching whether that even counts. If your son quits now he will forget a lot of Latin before then anyway so it is unlikely he would test out even if they gave that option.