<p>I am currently a Junior in high school with an interest in STEM (CS and Engineering, in particular).</p>
<p>This year, due to schedule conflict with other important core classes, I was unable to enroll in the third year of French. </p>
<p>If I have a broad and deep array of extracurricular activities, along with solid test scores and grades, would only taking 2 years of language be of any demerit to my chances of being admitted to competitive engineering schools? At the moment, I have no interest in applying to LACs, where they will put a larger emphasis on taking 4 years of language.</p>
<p>I suppose I could have taken the third year through Independent Study, but I had to do that last year to take French 2 (which is a graduation requirement) and it wasn't a positive experience (I barely survived with an A, and learning a language is difficult without actually being able to hear the language at a regular basis).</p>
<p>Furthermore, I am already fluent in my native language, Japanese. When I say fluent, I don't just mean being able to talk to my parents at home; throughout my life, I've immersed myself through a broad range of Japanese literature, from Hiroshi Mori to Osamu Dazai. I am also an active member of the Japanese Internet community, where I gained experience composing structured arguments in Japanese. As a result, I have a pretty deep understanding of my own language and the culture, especially considering I've only spent around a week of my whole life in Japan.</p>
<p>Given that, would taking only 2 years of French be of any major demerit to me? Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>Regardless of how any school views completing only high school level 2 of French, it would be a good idea to present proof of your Japanese language skill through external testing (AP or SAT subject tests are probably widely recognized by colleges; JLPT may allow you to show more advanced skill than the AP or SAT subject tests) when you apply to colleges, in order to show that French is your third language, rather than your second language.</p>
<p>I think the JLPT is aimed towards non-native speakers, so I wouldn’t be able to take it (correct me if I’m wrong). </p>
<p>I have also already taken both the AP and SAT Subject Test and scored well on them. However, I don’t think I will submit my Japanese SAT since I will be taking 2 other harder tests (unless, of course, the school I am applying to does not allow score choice for subject tests).</p>
<p>As I stated on another thread…is it okay for you to expect schools to give you a pass on language requirements? Is it also okay for the same school to give a humanities major a pass on 2 years of math?,</p>
<p>Since you can include all of your SAT subject test scores on the test report, wouldn’t it be an advantage, or at least non-detrimental, to show your 800 on the Japanese test along with your two other subject tests?</p>
<p>Some colleges may not want you to use your heritage language as one of their required subject tests – but it should not be a problem if you show it as an additional test beyond their required ones.</p>
<p>No, you would think the humanities major was stupid…less than you. So why can’t you pull off an A in some humanities course? To many papers to…what… write? Wah, I am aSTEM KID, why do iI need to learn this useless crap? Art History…what? Latin? A dead language. Why can’t I just take Stem classes…i am smarter than those darn humanities kids!</p>
<p>GA2012MOM, thanks for the reply, but there is a difference between mathematics and foreign languages in that many competitive colleges and universities REQUIRE 4 years of mathematics (or at least 3) whilst 4 years of foreign language is only recommended. In fact, some schools like Harvey Mudd and MIT only recommends 2 years of foreign language.
A better comparison would be a humanities major with 2 years of mathematics and a STEM major with 2 years of english.
Don’t take me wrong, I enjoy studying foreign languages, but it was just a pain to have to essentially self-study a language with almost no guidance, and I didn’t feel like I was actually learning anything.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus, I don’t think submitting the scores will be detrimental but I don’t see the scores being advantageous either since the test is extremely easy for native speakers (the AP test, on the other hand, was a tad bit more challenging). I may end up sending it anyways.</p>