USAFA admissions: languages

Search online for the Air Force Strategic Language List. All the services, DOD, DOS, FBI, CIA, etc., have something similar.

From what I have seen in recent years, you can’t go wrong with Chinese, Russian or Arabic.
 
Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)

Спасибо вам за ваше обслуживание, сэр.
 
My son is contacting admissions and his ALO to check if Latin is discounted as a modern foreign language. He took Latin freshman year on the premise that it would help with ACT/SAT's, and is enrolled in Honors Latin at the moment.

That said, the thread got us thinking that a language like Russian or Chinese might make his application more attractive. My DD had 4 years of Spanish in HS, but was placed in Russian at USAFA after taking a placement test. Given this maneuver it seems logical that USAF needs more Russian speaking officers and my assumption is that because Chinese is rarely taught in HS, they might need more Chinese speaking folks too.

Thoughts in that theory?
I'd certainly wait until your DS gets his feedback from the academy before making a decision, if that's possible. If I had to choose between the two, Russian or Chinese, I'd go with Russian. My logic is that very many Chinese-American children are taught Chinese while growing up. It seems everyone we knew in this category went to Chinese school every Saturday morning. Certainly some of these make it to the military, and if they don't they're readily "available" anyway. My gut tells me there are fewer Russian speakers in the US today. Russian characters are, in part, based on the Greek alphabet, so if one has some familiarity with it one can actually read some of it a bit already. It's also a phonetic language, or so they say, as well as being Indo-European so there are some common roots with Latin and English back there somewhere. Anyway, that's my analysis based on absolutely no concrete evidence, but then my wife often tells me I put the "anal" in "analysis". :D
 
DS had similar issue with Latin. Two years of Latin (9,10) and then switched to take two years of Spanish (11,12) to meet "modern language" requirement. Also, some other highly selective schools want to see 4 years of the "same" language but Latin counted so switching to Spanish was bit of a gamble.
 
My son is contacting admissions and his ALO to check if Latin is discounted as a modern foreign language. He took Latin freshman year on the premise that it would help with ACT/SAT's, and is enrolled in Honors Latin at the moment.

That said, the thread got us thinking that a language like Russian or Chinese might make his application more attractive. My DD had 4 years of Spanish in HS, but was placed in Russian at USAFA after taking a placement test. Given this maneuver it seems logical that USAF needs more Russian speaking officers and my assumption is that because Chinese is rarely taught in HS, they might need more Chinese speaking folks too.

Thoughts in that theory?
Russian and Chinese are considered "strategic languages" and as such, are sought out. Do we "need" more speakers? Sure...in many roles. Is it critical? No. I had Spanish in school and did time in a Spanish school in Spain; I wanted to take Russian at the academy. They wanted me to take more Spanish?! I said "Russian or no language; validate me" (I was functionally fluent in Spanish) so they validated me.

So I took Russian as an elective and continued it in my career. It was valuable during the "cold" war.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)

So does Russian look good for a candidate's application.....would u say?
 
Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)

So does Russian look good for a candidate's application.....would u say?

It's recommended to have two years of foreign language for each candidate. They probably won't look at what langauge they took to decide between two 3Q'd candidates.
 
DS applied in 2016 with Latin and received a TWE on April 17, 2017 w/o any mention of "due to Latin". Well, DD was also interested and took Latin and is applying for a 2019 appointment.
Has anyone heard of someone actually being declined due to not having completed modern foreign language? TIA.
 
It is to my understanding that the Academy only SUGGESTS two years of a modern foreign language. It is not a requirement for candidacy.

Yes, you are correct. DS did not have a single class of a foreign language and still received an appointment.

That is good to know. DS has all and only Latin for high school. I was thinking of having him take the AP or CLEP tests for 2 years of Spanish (as other homeschoolers have successfully done after 4 years of Latin only) to show on his high school transcript that he does have the equivalent of 2 years of a modern language. Now, I'm thinking that he doesn't need to stress on that point.

Interestingly, I saw a youtube video by academyadmissions for USAFA where there was an every-so-brief moment of a teacher talking excitedly about a historical book that was in the USAFA library in its original latin. So, I'm guessing that they don't hate Latin! However, I do get that would really like to see a modern, esp. strategic, language.
 
Many colleges do not accept Latin or Greek as "modern foreign languages." I can think of three LAC's off the top of my head which require MFL's as part of the curriculum, even for "Classics" majors.

OK, you may have to talk to someone in admissions as I am not sure a summer online class (and my kids took their HS language online) counts as a full year of foreign language.

I would strongly recommend your child enroll ASAP in a local community college program and stick with it through the summers.
 
Update:

I was at USAFA Parents Weekend and spoke to the Director of languages who was also on the admissions board last year. His response was that strategic languages like Arabic, Chinese, and Russian will be looked upon favorably during the admissions process, but will not make or break the admission decision by itself.

That said, my son switched from Latin to Chinese this past week and should have three years of Chinese under his belt by the time he enters an academy or college.
 
Update:

I was at USAFA Parents Weekend and spoke to the Director of languages who was also on the admissions board last year. His response was that strategic languages like Arabic, Chinese, and Russian will be looked upon favorably during the admissions process, but will not make or break the admission decision by itself.

That said, my son switched from Latin to Chinese this past week and should have three years of Chinese under his belt by the time he enters an academy or college.


Thanks for that information. I have a 9th grader that is fully fluent in German and elementary proficient in French. He is going to drop French for Russian! Our goal now is to be fluent in one in force language (German) and one strategic language (Russian).
 
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DS is a 3-degree at USAFA and he took Latin as his foreign language in high school....definitely not an issue for him
 
Hi, I know this is late but, I'm in a bit of a pickle as well. While I understand that the foreign language thing is only a recommendation, I want to have the best possible chances of getting in.

I'm a current Sophomore who took latin for 2 years now (both this year and last year) and our school only offers Latin, Spanish, and French. However, I'm conversationally fluent in Mandarin (can speak/listen but not read/write). I think I have a better chance learning Mandarin rather than switching to Spanish or French (plus for a plan B if I don't get into USAFA, my state requires 3 years of the same language so I cannot even really switch to Spanish or French anymore.) If I learn how to read Chinese by myself over the summer, and take the AP Chinese test, will that be ok or do I need to take official community college courses in Chinese?

Thank you in advance!
 
I was wondering if you can opt-out of taking a language at USAFA if I'm fluent and can read and write in a language that is not offered at USAFA? I am fluent in dutch witch isn't a language many schools offer (I never took any Dutch classes in high school).
 
I was wondering if you can opt-out of taking a language at USAFA if I'm fluent and can read and write in a language that is not offered at USAFA? I am fluent in dutch witch isn't a language many schools offer (I never took any Dutch classes in high school).
I think you can only validate a course which is offered at the academy, and since Dutch isn’t listed as a modern foreign language for USAFA I doubt that you’ll be able to validate.
 
I would bet that being fluent in a foreign language most certainly will help boost your chances of admission. Remember that USAFA is essentially building a giant puzzle for every class. If you can make yourself a unique piece of the puzzle, they will be far more interested in you. Also, learning a language takes tons of hard work and constant effort, which just so happens to be two of the most important things that the Academy is looking for in aspiring students.
 
My daughter is in her first year at the academy and she had some friends that were placed in Russian and Chinese even though they had no prior exposure to those languages. Not an expert regarding what language to take but can tell you my daughter took Chinese (Mandarin) for 5 years while in junior high and high school. My wife and I speak no other language other than English so was of no help. Our daughter was able to validate two years of Chinese. There was 5-6 candidates who were able to validate two years of Chinese this year. From what I understand now is she will have to take three courses in Chinese and will fulfill the requirements to graduate with a minor in Chinese. She just completed the first one so two more to go. So I would say take a foreign language and try to validate some of the courses when you get there.
 
Hi,
My S is starting his HS Junior and AFA has been a goal of his since start of HS. In doing his research at end of freshman he read the fine print and realized that his 3 years of HS Latin (all As) were not going to be accepted, so he changed course out of Latin 4. He now has taken 2 years of Chinese, both Bs, online over the summers to catch up.
question: AFA Minimum (and we don't do minimums here) is 2 year of language. Will the 3 years of Latin come into play AT ALL or does he need to find a third year of Chinese.
Thank you.
my kid is applying to USAFA with 3 years of Latin and no one throughout the process said anything about that. Not his LAO, not admissions counselors etc
 
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