Question about "4 years of same foreign language"

[Bristayl]

If a student has high school credit for Spanish 1-3, and college credit for the first two semesters of college Spanish, would that probably still not count as "four years of the same foreign language" because it is not on the level of Spanish 4/AP Spanish? In other words, are the colleges who want four years of foreign language probably looking for the level of competency rather than the actual number of years?

[FriedClams]

I've never heard of a college wanting 4 years. 2 seems standard.

 

I would call the school and ask. I would think that 1 semester of college would be 1 year of high school, so you'd need Spanish 1-3 in high school and then a semester of Spanish 4. But, I would call or email (then you have a paper trail for later).

[Bristayl]

Well, dd might apply to a couple of very selective colleges that do want to see four years. For the public colleges she will be applying to, yes, two years is sufficient.

 

I'm thinking that the selective colleges would consider the first two semesters of college Spanish to be equivalent to the first two years of high school Spanish, so that wouldn't count as a fourth year. But I was just wanting to see if anyone on the board has any experience with this.

[winterbaby]

I don't have experience with this but if one has mastered three years of high school Spanish, why start college Spanish back at the very beginning level?

[Bristayl]

Well, the situation is actually that she has received credit by exam for the two semesters of college Spanish. Which I think makes it highly unlikely that that would be considered a fourth year of Spanish, so I guess I've answered my own question!

[J-rap]

Without directly calling the college and asking them, I think you'd just list the Spanish 1-3 courses that she took in high school, plus the two college-level courses that she passed out of through exam, and they'll decide how they want to handle it all.

 

My guess is that passing out of the first two college levels of Spanish would not count as Year 4 of high school Spanish.  It would more just show where to place her in college -- if she chooses to continue Spanish there.  Or, it might fulfill a college requirement of two (college) semesters of a foreign language.  (That's actually required at my dd's college, and she had four years of Spanish in high school.  So, she can either take two semesters of any foreign language, or she can try and pass out of the first two levels of college Spanish.)

[Bristayl]

Without directly calling the college and asking them, I think you'd just list the Spanish 1-3 courses that she took in high school, plus the two college-level courses that she passed out of through exam, and they'll decide how they want to handle it all.

 

Yes, it looks like that's what I'll need to do.

[Ann.without.an.e]

DD switched from Latin to Spanish so she only ended up with 3 years of the same language (Spanish 1-3).  She will be a freshman at a top 10 University in the fall so it obviously didn't hinder her?  

 

Also, DS goes to a rigorous college prep high school and they require 3 years of the same language.  If 4 was the magic number then they would require it.  

 

 

ETA:  I am speaking of the general recommendation that I see on here of 4 years.  If a specific college has requested 4 years then you need to ask them directly.

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Attolia

[wapiti]

There is a big difference between foreign language required for college admission vs college graduation - it sounds like you are asking about admission.

 

4 is ideal for selective colleges though I am under the impression that it's not likely to be a deal-breaker all by itself, i.e., 3 may be enough in certain situations. On the other hand, for selective admissions, students typically can use all the rigor they can get on the transcript. It's just another piece of the big picture.

 

No idea what an adcom would say, but IMO the credit by exam is not relevant to admissions.

[JanetC]

I do not see how taking Spanish at the level she places into would hurt unless she places way behind. Different schools do language placement a little differently.

[chiguirre]

Can I piggy-back a question that's almost the same, but different scenario? For a kid that takes 4 years of high school Spanish (grades 8-11), would it be inadvisable to take a DE Spanish class senior year if she doesn't place into Spanish 5 at the college? I don't know if my dd will place into Spanish 5 or not (perhaps she will), and if she doesn't, I don't know how I would transcript it, if she needed an additional Spanish 4 class. She would like to take more Spanish, but I almost feel like that would look worse if she had to do Spanish 4 again. The Spanish 3 and 4 she has are from an accredited class.

 

Spanish 4 at a CC will be roughly equivalent to Spanish 5 in high school. It's usually the class that fulfills a strict foreign language requirement for a non-language liberal arts major. Past Spanish 4, you'll be taking major classes that can include a grammar review (this is often a very hard class), literature, history taught in that language, morphology, etc. If you want a rough guide, check what AP score you need to place out of Spanish 4. If you need a 5, you know it's a high level class. If you only need a 3, it's probably not too hard.

[StephanieZ]

Well, no, because with the 2 semesters of college Spanish, you've essentially repeated the first two years of high school Spanish, so you haven't achieved the level of a student who has had 4 years of one language at the high school level (or 4 semesters at college level).

 

That said, it's a rare school that would require 4 year study of a single language. Possible, but rare. 

 

If you want to get to the "4 year" level, I'd aim for getting through 4th semester Spanish at the college. 

 

 

[Bristayl]

Yes, that's pretty much what I have concluded.

[midori]

When I was at a four-year university, I had friends who had taken 4 years of Spanish in high school, and were flunking out of Spanish I at the university within the first month, because they'd already gone through everything they'd learned in high school.

 

I homeschooled and took Spanish from my Mom's old 1960's textbooks. When I went to undergrad, the freshman admissions requirements demanded 4 semesters (2 years) of the same language. We said that we had done it; the school took our word for it. There were no competency tests, or requests to see the curriculum, or anything like that. Things might be more structured elsewhere, but it was laid-back in Texas.

 

For graduation with a BA, our university required four semesters of 1 language, or 2 semesters of 2 languages. I had planned for Latin and Greek, but Latin was rough enough on me that I decided to fall back on Spanish, since I already had a grounding in it. I went to a community college in the summer, and took Spanish I and Spanish II and transferred them. They were less rigorous than at a four-year university, but since I wasn't actually majoring in language, it was more of a matter of checking the boxes for graduation requirements. I was happy to free up a whole half-semester of my time (and budget!) by transferring those eight hours.

 

I had also taken Chemistry I and Chemistry II at the local community college during high school. I was very happy that those eight credit hours were also able to be transferred and applied for college credit. (Yay! One whole semester freed up!) If I had realized it ahead of time, I would have just taken community college Spanish in high school, and transferred the hours at the get-go.

Edited June 13, 2017 by midori

[Julie of KY]

What colleges want four years of a foreign language? Most want either a minimum or a range, but there is still a minimum in that range.

 

As far as applying, list what your student has done. You can't change that and colleges will handle it as they see fit.

 

My son got into a selective school with only two years of Latin. He shined in the math so that is what stood out. 

[Bristayl]

Well, actually she is going into 11th grade so there would be time to do a fourth year of Spanish at home. However, we have flailed a lot with Spanish and have switched curricula several times from sixth grade through tenth, without achieving a high enough level for me to justify giving her credit for Spanish IV. Her interests are in other areas and I hate to "make" her do another year of Spanish just for the sake of the tippy-top schools for which the odds are already so low. She is going to be starting to work in a research lab with a biology professor at a local university this summer, hopefully for the next two years, so I am hoping that stuff like that might help to balance the scales a little.

[gstharr]

Double check what the university means by  the 4th year requirement. I went to one of those universities. 3  years of h.s.  The fourth year at college was not a 1st year  intro college class, but rather an advanced reading class to show proficiency.  basically, the last language class for non- language majors.

[Bristayl]

I'm sorry, I should have clarified at the beginning that I was talking about colleges that want to see four years of the same foreign language in high school for admissions.

[EKS]

There is a big difference between foreign language required for college admission vs college graduation - it sounds like you are asking about admission.

 

This is an important distinction.  At our state flagship, they specifically say that one quarter/semester of college foreign language equates to a one year high school course.  They require two years/quarters/semesters for admission and most majors require a third year/quarter/semester to graduate.  It is considered to be most efficient to get all three years/quarters/semesters done in high school.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I would think any courses that were essentially comped by examination wouldn't count.  They are looking for "class room time".  I think 3 years of high school and a year of DE would certainly count, at least for admissions purposes.

 

Yes, some schools will say 2 years recommended/required for admission and 4 years preferred.  There are also some schools that will take 4 years of high school language as being the equivalent of their own language requirement and check that box.  Others offer exam based placement.  Exam based placement can lead to helping on one of two paths.  Path 1-school requires a language proficiency equal to a given level (i.e. second semester 200 course); this can lead to needing fewer (or no) semesters of language to fulfill the requirement.  Path 2-- requires x number of credits, at any level; placement here can allow a student to skip ahead to the next level or take more literature courses in their preferred language until they achieve the required credits.  All very school dependent.  Admissions requirements and general education requirements are two separate issues that can be prepared for concurrently during high school.