<p>My HS feshman is selecting courses for next year and planing for his other years of high school. He is an "A" Spanish II student and has the choice of honors Spanish next year which eventually leads to AP Spanish his senior year or regular Spanish which would end in his junior year with Spanish IV. He finds Spanish easy but boring and would rather put his effort into AP Computer Science next year and not put the effort into honors Spanish. He is more science oriented in general. Is this a mistake - will colleges wonder why de did not step up to the plate and take the more challenging language course? Is it important to take AP Spanish for selective colleges?</p>
<p>He doesn’t have to take the AP level but he should show that he stepped up to the plate to continue learning another language. I would recommend going with AP Compsci and maybe taking an online course or self studying Spanish for a year. Then just go back and continue taking these classes. If he makes it to just level 4 or 5, that’s fine.</p>
<p>Some observations:</p>
<p>(1) If your goal is to eventually have your son apply to very selective and selective colleges, then the main focus through high school is to have him focus on core courses, and to take electives without compromising the core curriculum. The core high school curriculum as defined by top colleges consists of (usually) 4 years of English, math, history/social science, foreign language, and lab science. Lab science means biology, chemistry, and physics. Computer science is an elective.</p>
<p>(2) Foreign language study becomes less boring and more rewarding once you get past the introductory stage. Best is to stay at the highest level possible; that way you’re in a class with passionate students, and there is less remedial focus.</p>
<p>(3) Successfully completing AP Foreign Language is much more impressive than taking a computer science course in high school. It is much better to overachieve on the core courses then to take lots of electives.</p>
<p>(4) While freshmen have strong opinions about how to best select their sophomore schedule, they need a great deal of guidance. Perhaps by the time they are juniors, they can choose courses on their own.</p>