<p>I'm a sophomore in Northern VA and I'm selecting my courses and my counselor wants my final decision soon. I appreciate all of the help you give me a lot. So far I'm planning on:
AP US History
AP Language
AP Calc BC
AP Economics(Micro and Macro)
Computer Science - So I can take AP Comp Sci senior year
Physics Honors - So I can take AP Physics C senior year</p>
<p>The main problem I'm having is choosing my last course.
I have taken 3 years of Spanish but in Spanish 2 my teacher wasn't the best and eventually got fired near the end of the year. Currently, in Spanish 3 I'm doing alright with a B+ but the only thing that's keeping me from having an A in the class is the gaps in the language that I never learned. I've talked to students in Spanish 4 that got straight A's in Spanish 3 with my teacher with almost no effort but are struggling to have a B+ in that class. (My school started a new rule that you must take the 4th level of a language before taking the AP class unless you're heavily recommended and pass a basic fluency test)
I was considering just stopping languages all together and taking AP Psych but I don't want to overload myself with 5 ap's.
My counselor suggested switching to another language. My school offers French, Latin, and German besides Spanish but I'm most interested in German because of it's business applications.
I'm currently planning on getting my bachelors' degree in Comp Sci and then getting a MBA.
Please help me decide what my last course should be or inform me if you see any concerns with my currently planned schedule for my junior year. My #1 choice is UVA and I would love to get accepted.</p>
<p>joker: I’m a first year at UVA (in engineering) and had to make the same decision in HS regarding Spanish. My school would let me go from Span. 3 to AP but my mom would not let me do that so I took Span. 4 and the following year I took AP Span. Lang. I worked my tail off in AP Span. and did not get an A but it was well worth it. My personal thought is that 4 or 5 years of one language is better than taking two languages for 2 or 3 years each. What’s your goal in Spanish? By the end of AP Span. I realized what my mom had said over and over was my goal too…to be as close to fluent as possible.</p>
<p>Honestly, the main reason I’m taking Spanish is for colleges although I do like the language. I suppose I don’t really have a main goal for Spanish because of the reason I’m taking it…
I forgot to mention I know Hindi (speak and understand) if it makes a difference. I can’t pass the certified fluency test though because I don’t know how to write it although I could try to get it done by my senior year</p>
<p>You already have more than enough AP classes. If you don’t think you are getting sufficient background in Spanish 3 to do well in Spanish 4, do some self-study over the summer. The later parts of the show “Destinos” (available in many public libraries) or Books 2 and 3 of the Foreign Service Institute Spanish tapes will do a lot to improve your fluency.</p>
<p>So doing extra work to continue Spanish would be better than starting a new language and having a relatively easier course? I’m not lazy but I want to be efficient with my time</p>
<p>I would stick with Spanish - even if you do not take AP or gain credit for it, it will likely be of benefit to you when taking placement exams at the start of college. In some cases you may only need to take one course (instead of 3 or 4) in order to complete a Gen Ed college requirement.</p>
<p>I would do what Jingle recommended. Beef up your Spanish over the summer…watch TV shows and read. You do have many AP courses and sticking with a language over the long haul versus switching to another language in junior year is probably not what you want to do to get into UVA. Plus two years of a language really isn’t going to do much for you unless you continue it in college.</p>