<p>I'm not sure if I should take a third year of spanish, I am currently a freshman and taking spanish 2, having quite a hard time in this class because my teacher does not teach well and I am barely passing her class with Bs. My GPA unweighted is a 3.4, I live in Florida and trying to get into colleges like USF, UF, FAU, FSU...etc basically any school in Florida that is good, I am trying to go for the medical program for USF and UCF, I need a 3.7 unweighted GPA, just to be straight up truthful I hate spanish, I suck at it, I die when I am in that class because I know I completely suck at it, I have a spanish tutor and I still can't understand it. I am scared that it will lower my GPA and just interfear with my other school work so will colleges that are in Florida really care about 3 years of Spanish?</p>
<p>I can’t speak to Florida colleges, but I’m sure many others here can. I imagine the specific information (on whether 3 years is required or not) will give you the answer you are looking for. But I have some other questions:</p>
<p>Will you have the same teacher this year as next year? How do you know the issue is the teacher? Is this truly the issue? How are others doing in that class? How do you know your tutor is strong enough? </p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by “barely passing her class with Bs”. It seems a bit crazy to drop a class because you are ‘only getting a B’. </p>
<p>If you are truly cut out for medical programs, you are strong enough academically that you can weather an occasional bad teacher (especially if you have parents who can foot the bill for a private tutor!), and your transcript can weather the occasional B. Such is academic life and you won’t be able to work your way around it.</p>
<p>So having said all that, I think you should just stick with it. Most students have a subject that isn’t their strongest. There is tremendous value in learning to learn a subject that is tough for you, persisting, trying to ‘crack the code’, enduring what you ‘hate’ in a subject, and learning to live with a B. It will all be good for you in your studies ahead, whether you get into the medical program or not. </p>
<p>My two cents worth. Maybe one cent :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Check each school to see if a third year of high school foreign language is required for admission or graduation.</p></li>
<li><p>Physicians often find knowledge of common foreign languages useful.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you are only a freshman, you could consider taking a year off and studying the third year material ahead of time to help you get a better grade in the class when you do take it.</p>
<p>I agree with Starbright about sticking it out. Spanish is very useful these days, especially if you live in FL. What about taking a Spanish enrichment class this summer to help with next fall?</p>
<p>Ok thank you for all the amazing replies! I guess I will just have to suck it up and take spanish 3 to just get it over with!</p>
<p>I wonder if you need a different tutor for next year.
I agree that you want to research what you can do over the summer to reinforce what you have learned so far.
My cousin volunteered in a medical clinic serving a primarily Spanish-speaking population…she said it was all her med school interviewers wanted to talk about.</p>
<p>Our son took Spanish 2 freshman year of hs, then Spanish 3 sophomore year. He was “dying” in 3, but I called a few LAC and they said they would not accept taking spanish 2 as “2 years” of a language. So he dropped it this semester, we put him back in Spanish 2…and he will try 3 again next year.</p>
<p>In Florida only 2 foreign language credits are needed for admission to state universities. Obviously unless you can balance out the loss it will hurt you. For example I chose not to take spanish III (we have terrible teachers here as well) , and instead elected to take ap bio. Also I am currently in a medical magnet program within a highschool and would reccomend becoming involved in H.O.S.A. (google it).</p>
<p>If you are considering taking a year off and then taking Spanish 3, please look closely at requirements for schools. Some require consecutive years of a foreign language and I am sure you don’t want to be looking at Spanish 4 as a necessity as a senior!!</p>
<p>There is one other option, if you’re willing – drop Spanish and take three years of another foreign language, starting with level 1 next year.</p>
<p>If your school has a lousy Spanish teacher but a really good teacher for another foreign language, this might be the way to go.</p>
<p>I think top schools like HYPS require 4 years of one foreign language. How do kids with less than that get to enter these type of schools?</p>
<p>The OP isn’t a candidate for HYPS. </p>
<p>I think that in general, if you can give a sound reason why you don’t have four years of one foreign language, a college will understand. For example, if your school stopped teaching German after you finished German 2 in 10th grade, they will understand why you have two years of German and two of Spanish. Or if there was a direct conflict between the one section of French 4 and BC Calculus and you plan to major in math, they would probably understand that, too.</p>
<p>Zawshin - give a quick call to the Admissins office or investigate online the schools you are most interested in. In my son’s case, he too HATED Spanish - even had to retake one semester of Spanish II. He was able to drop Spanish III, but the CA universities he’s interested in will want to see 4 years Eng, 4 years Lab/Social Science, 4 years Math, 4 years Hist/Gov. In other words, they “recommend” 3 years Foreign Language, but will see past it if the rest of the hs transcript is loaded and the student has challenged himself. Some universities “require” and some “recommend”. Important difference.</p>