<p>Dear Concerned Readers,
I am a high school junior about to pick my classes for senior year. As of right now, I have one full years worth of classes (i.e. two semesters) remaining to fit into my schedule. Do you think it would be most beneficial for college admissions to take a third foreign language (it would be French) or to take a more "life-skills" class like Accounting? Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>It depends on a lot of factors, like where you’re applying, interests, etc.</p>
<p>Also, how many years do you have of each of your two other languages? Colleges would rather see a higher level of a single FL than lower levels in several.</p>
<p>Yeah probably should have been more specific. As of right now I have a 3.95 UW, and a 34 ACT on my only attempt (idk if that matters), so I’m looking at top-tier schools. I will be in Spanish 5 and Latin 4 along with French 1 if I took it.</p>
<p>So you’re great as far as the level of your other FLs. I guess my one comment is that for selective colleges, French will be looked upon as a core academic subject, but accounting will likely not.</p>
<p>Is accounting even considered a college prep class at your school? If not it isn’t going to add any luster to your resume with the possible exception if you were sure you wanted to be a business major. French would be nice to get started on if you have a goal of being fluent in that language or a goal of an IR or academic career where it will be useful. Why only these choices, don’t you have any academic electives that are interesting or if you haven’t had a full year of arts, arts would be nice.</p>
<p>Yeah, I took arts sophomore year and I wasn’t enthused. I could take other classes in academic subjects, but I am taking very difficult english, science and math courses so in these last 2 semesters I was looking to take something a bit easier.</p>
<p>We don’t know where you’ll be applying so there is no way to answer your question.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to very selective private colleges then neither choice is particularly wise. If you’re applying to a selective public university then the 3 concurrent language courses won’t make sense to admissions. In either case your choice of any “easy” senior year schedule won’t help you or your application.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters much from the standpoint of which a college might prefer. Take the one you’re most interested in.</p>
<p>Will you have all of the following in your four years of high school?</p>
<p>4 years of English
math through precalculus, calculus if available to you
3+ years of history and social studies
3+ years of science, including all of biology, chemistry, and physics
1+ year of art or music</p>
<p>If there are any obvious gaps in your high school course selection, then it may be better to take a course that covers such a gap rather than French 1 or accounting.</p>
<p>Also, note that high school French 1 may not be very useful in allowing you to start in a more advanced French course in college (check the colleges for their French placement policies). If the colleges want you to start in college French 1 even though you have had high school French 1, then taking high school French 1 may not be very useful. (But high school Spanish 5 and Latin 4 are likely to place you into college Spanish and Latin more advanced than the level 1 courses.)</p>
<p>Hi there!</p>
<p>I think you’ve covered your bases with the foreign languages. If that’s your passion, then by all means, go for it. But if you’re doing this more so for colleges, then I’d maybe try another class. I know you mentioned you didn’t like the art classes you took, but if you’re looking for a bit of a break workload-wise, they’re the way to go, haha. Otherwise, if there are any elective classes you could take, I’d look into that. Perhaps AP Psych or something? That would look arguably “better” than starting a new language in the middle of your HS career.</p>
<p>In any case, it seems like you’ve got your grades and everything on lock. Good job and best of luck!</p>
<p>How many years of foreign language do you have right now?</p>
<p>Is there a community or state college nearby where you could dual enroll? It seems to me that you’re a gifted language learner, so instead of taking French 1 at a high school, you could take it at a college and cover 1-2 years of HS French in a semester. Then you could continue 2nd semester with French 2 and jump right into Intermediate French when you start college (equivalent to French 4 at most high schools and sometimes AP French depending on the strength of that intermediate college class.)
An alternative would be to take a course in the college’s History dept that deals with either the classical period or Spain or Latin America, OR a class in international relations.</p>
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<p>OP mentioned having scheduled Spanish 5 and Latin 4 already.</p>