I am in my second semester of junior year in high school, and my schedule consists of five classes: one math, one science, one history, one english, and one foreign language. For the first semester of senior year, we are allowed to drop ONE of these classes, meaning most seniors are enrolled in just four classes. Some seniors, however, maintain five classes to be more competitive in the college application process.
For the first semester of senior year I want to drop my foreign language class. But instead of being enrolled in just four classes, I am interested in doing two science electives or two math electives to replace the foreign language class I’ll drop. I am interested in pursuing STEM, so would competitive colleges (HYPSM,etc.) see dropping a foreign language, but doubling up on STEM in a favorable light? Or should I just continue into a fourth year of foreign language, even though it does not pertain to my career interests and it will bring down my GPA?
Please help! 
The tippy top schools (HYPSM and the like) would prefer to see four years of all five core subjects. However, if you have a legitimate reason for dropping one of those core subjects and you’re doubling up in another, it shouldn’t necessarily hurt your chances.
I would not advise someone to drop the 4th year of a foreign language if they plan on applying to top schools
What would your second math be? If ap stats it’s not the same as AP foreign language, but if you mean calculus and discrete math then you’re good.
You could take a foreign language subject tests and ace it (700+) to demonstrate mastery?
@MYOS1634 If I were to do two maths senior year, the first would be Calculus 2 (I am doing Calculus 1 in junior) and the second either Statistics or Comp Sci. The language is Latin, so perhaps I’ll do that SAT subject test. Thank you so much!
“I would not advise someone to drop the 4th year of a foreign language if they plan on applying to top schools”
I have pretty much the opposite view. To me, getting into HYPSM is so unlikely and so arbitrary, even for a student who has all A’s, that I don’t think that you should let whatever these schools might or might not want control your choice of subjects in high school.
If you are interested in STEM, and if you like and are good at math, then to me it makes sense to take an additional math class. In a sense to me math is the language of STEM. Of course I was a math major and loved math, so I may be biased
What sort of high school has only five subjects? If you took an additional math class, what would it be?
The only reason you should consider dropping the language, if you are planning to apply to very competitive colleges, is, if by end of jr year you have completed the language thru level 4. (ie; sometimes freshmen who have had a lot of language in middle school start off in Spanish 2, so by jr yr they have completed thru level 4)
@DadTwoGirls Thank you for your advice. I am also interested in majoring in mathematics! For the first semester of senior year, I will be taking Calculus 2, and the second math would be either Statisitics or Computer Science.
***For the five subjects, I excluded art and physical education, so there are seven.
It’d be worth it for CS, but statistics is an “AP lite” - as a math major you’ll have to take calculus-based statistics, not Elementary statistics.
Definitely take that Latin Subject test: if you score high enough, it may not only show you have reached a sufficient level in Foreign Language, but Foreign Language tests are the ONLY subject tests that act as AP tests in that at many colleges a high score will waive pre-requisites or even grant credit toward college graduation (most colleges have a foreign language graduation requirement).
If you do eventually go on to PhD study, Latin may help you learn French, which can be useful when reading math research papers. (German and Russian are two other relevant languages that math research papers may be written in.)
4 years in high school and a proficiency test will exempt you from 2 years of college language classes, which are often required as part of the core curriculum.
I’m not an admissions officer, so I can’t really say what a particular college wants or doesn’t want. I can say that my son finished foreign language level 4 as a sophomore in HS, and never took another language class or any foreign language AP. He was accepted into many top schools, including 4 Ivies. So, it’s not mandatory to take a foreign language in each year of HS. Can it hurt? As you say, it could hurt GPA if you do not do well (or if your interest wanes so you don’t do well). It could hurt you when compared to someone else in your HS or so forth. But then, one must also take into account everything being compared (such as a stronger interest in Math or STEM). Consider what you really want to do and what’s best for you. Make a final decision and be happy. Fwiw, I don’t see a wrong answer for you.
@ChartresBlue Thank you for sharing your insight and advice! After reading these comments, I am definitely leaning toward doubling on STEM classes in place of Latin.
What matters is level achieved in a foreign language - level 4 is sufficient. However truly elite universities treat heritage language if you’re from a muddle class family differently than heritage language from parents who didn’t graduate high school or foreign language. So, level 4 in general language you speak at home with your physicians parents wouldn’t e the same as reaching level 4 foe a language you learned from scratch.