<p>No, neither Stanford nor other top colleges will care that you come from a Catholic high school. Hell, at Stanford, more than a third of the incoming class comes from private schools, and I daresay a sizable portion of those are Catholic schools.</p>
<p>Thank you for asking this question! After reading a post in another thread, I thought studying Japanese by myself for 3 years wouldn't count as an extracurricular activity. But after having read people's responses in this thread, I'm convinced that it's an extracurricular activity. I really love studying languages, too, and I'm glad to find other people who share my passion. :D</p>
<p>^^ you might message the user Hanajima Arashi and ask her how she incorporated her study of Japanese into her applications. (I believe she's a Columbia student now.)</p>