4 years vs 4 levels

<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore at a highly ranked high school.
I've done reasonably well in Spanish, taking Spanish 3 freshman year and 4 Sophomore year. However, I know I'm not very good at Spanish and taking AP Spanish would definitely hurt my GPA. Right now I'm not sure if I should continue taking it. I'd definitely take it if I felt I was able to speak the language a lot better but the teaching they do in foreign language is quite poor. So right now I am wondering if I should continue taking Spanish or drop the language/ take up a new language? I have a 3.85 UW and probably 6 AP's next year so I really would rather not have a difficult class that I would probably get a B in. If I didn't take the class I would take 2 of AP art history, AP psych, or language 1.
As you can see I've taken 4 levels, but I can't transfer the grades from middle school because I'm pretty sure they're B's.
I know that it varies for every college, so I was wondering if there was any more info regarding the requirements for different colleges. Also, I would appreciate any advice on my problem as schedule registration is due next week.
Thanks!</p>

<p>Well, it really depends what schools you’re looking at. Almost all of the top tier colleges expect AT LEAST three years in high school of the same language, and ideally four years. Have you talked to some kids at your school who are in AP Spanish? For me, I have found that after about Spanish 4, you’ve learned almost everything grammar wise and all the subsequent foreign langauge classes just review and reinforce those concepts. So I feel like if you’ve done ok in Spanish so far, you should be ok for AP. But I would definitely ask some of the kids taking the class about it and also ask how much work it is.</p>

<p>thanks, I will ask some of my classmates. Are there any websites I can use to find out info about academic requirements/recommendations like FL?</p>

<p>It is the level reached, not the number of yrs you took a FL in HS. Having taken through Spanish 4, you would have completed the recommended/require amount of any college in the country.</p>

<p>Do a Search for ‘foreign language’ on this forum and you will come up with many threads asking this same question.</p>

<p>As far as what colleges want, go to their websites and under Admissions they will usually have a section called Academic Preparation or something similar. For instance:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>wow i am not sure about taking ap spanish either! entomom, can you confirm that if you take to level 4 that is like 4 years of language even if you dont trasnfer credits from MS?</p>

<p>The only thing that I’ve seen in writing is for the UCs, who accept a FL taken in 7th or 8th grade:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/subject_reqs.html[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/subject_reqs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This question has been asked many times, do a Search on this or the Parents forum for ‘foreign language’ and you will see this supported by many people who have been through the admissions process; I’ve never seen any documentation stating otherwise. You could also call or email Admissions at some of the colleges you might be interested in and ask. </p>

<p>p.s. I’m impressed that you asked for confirmation, a smart move, I always encourage going to the primary source for questions like this!</p>