<p>Would you people say that taking a classical language such as latin or ancient greek would be more beneficial when it comes to getting into top schools vs taking modern languages even at the honor and AP level (AP Spanish)? </p>
<p>Note:I have a friend who just graduated Harvard as a classics major. She recently was admitted to Oxford and earlier in her college life, Harvard sent her to do studies in Greece as part of her classical greek summer study. Her claim is that Harvard can fill up its class with valadictorians 10 times over(true) and rather they are looking for more unique, interesting people (such as those that take classical languages or so she claims).</p>
<p>If I were an adcom, I would prefer that people takes modern languages because that makes them more competitive for jobs on the world market. Latin isn't going to get you anywhere in the business world, and it really won't get you far in science either. If that's what you really, really want to do, then I suppose that's fine, but I wouldn't think it would make you any more competitive in admissions unless you have a modern language to supplement it. I suppose this sort of depends on your intended major, but a classical language doesn't really make you unique.</p>
<p>If you have a choice, pick an AP modern language.</p>
<p>Classical languages are not my intended major but by unique I mean that the amount of people who take ancient greek in America is much less than those that take spanish. From what I've been told, colleges look for certain distinguishing factors (like this) on an application. I see your point that latin won't get you far in certain fields but in terms of knowing the roots to many english words and greek being the foundation for many law and especially medical terms, taking one of these languages can actually help you depending on your intended major. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Top colleges especially look for diversity, so if you're talented in a classical language that's definitely a plus over modern language (which mostly everyone takes). And I sincerely doubt whether they consider how competitive you're going to be on the job market, because classical language forms the basis of most modern languages today, it might actually make it easier in that aspect.
But don't worry too much, I'm sure they won't care. If your interests urge you to take a classical language, do it.</p>
<p>Or you could be an overachiever and take a modern and a classical language-- I tried to get my younger sister to take French and Latin, but she wouldn't do it. In my honest opinion, if you had to choose between one or the other, take Latin. It's becoming increasingly rare among average high school students, and it will provide a good foundation for learning modern Romance languages in college if you decide to do that later on. </p>
<p>Everyone and their brother takes Spanish (and for good, practical reasons). If the main thing you want is to stand out, take Latin or Greek or some exotic modern language like Russian or Chinese.</p>
<p>The US govt also wants people to take Arabic, too, for obvious reasons.</p>