hello. ok, so i’ve been kind of worried lately. normally I don’t visit this site because it makes me even more worried and insecure about my stats. anyway, so i took french for four years starting from seventh grade. as a junior, i couldn’t stand french - i dropped out and took band instead (i’ve been playing for 9 years). anyway, I’m kind of worried because I see most schools that I’m thinking of applying to (Yale, for example) recommend 4 years of language. I’ve only taken 2 years of french, but I’ve also been taking urdu and arabic classes outside of school… the arabic is mostly reading and writing, urdu is speaking too. i speak english at home, but my parents speak urdu. anyway, i’ve been taking these classes since 9th grade, once a week. i’m not sure how i can demonstrate my proficiency to hopefully make up for this lack of language. and, in the end, will it matter so much to adcoms when they see no french 11th and 12th? not sure what to do, and i’m feeling a bit depressed, especially glancing over a few my chances posts.
i won’t get into the specifics, but i have a 2150 SAT (but will retake, and expecting a decent improvement), ranked in the top1% of the class (likely 2nd or 3rd…), and have ecs mainly in science. i did research, submitting to intel, westinghouse, and other comps. also music ecs, but i didn’t make all state :(. i know yale is a big reach, but i have matches and safeties too. i’m hoping my chances aren’t hurt too badly by this. thanks for any input
<p>ps, all my other classes were APs or honors. i switched band with french, so i had a full year of band. oh, and i had half a semester of lunch, spread out every other day, switching with my PE class (couldn't turn this into an academic class, though I did try).</p>
<p>For proving the Arabic and Urdu proficiency, you might want to consider taking a placement exam at a university. Sometimes schools will let you do that for a small fee. For example, I know the University of Washington will test you and send the results to other schools for like $80. Well, at least their Slavic department does that. I am not so sure about the others...</p>
<p>Anyway, for yourself, it probably will be near impossible to find a school that offers Urdu, but finding one with Arabic might be possible. It's a longshot, but I'd still look into it.</p>
<p>I don't think it's so much that colleges care that you are fluent, I think they are looking at whether you took easy classes or not. Cutting out of foreign language classes isn't something most people aiming at top schools do. Where was your counselor?</p>
<p>Honestly, if your research didn't get to finals and you have a 2150, Yale is probably not realistic anyway. But for other good schools, I'd sure pick up your language senior year. Half of America has another language they speak at home, that's not the point.</p>
<p>if it's a matter of difficult courseload, then I did have the most rigorous classes. i agree though, yale probably (:() isn't realistic. my research seems promising and stuff, so i might make at least semifinals in intel. at the same time, i don't want to do stuff just for colleges. i'm not going to take language even though i hate it and drop band just for colleges.</p>
<p>I'm aware of that suze. Thanks for the input, also. I know it might have come off that way, but my main concern wasn't so much if I was going to get into Yale or not, but rather if I had any way to convey my proficiency in language. Again, thanks for the input :).</p>
<p>i hate to bump this because it makes me feel sad, and I've been thinking that my choice to take two years of french (excluding 7th and 8th) was really really bad. Irreparable? Should I really pick up a language like suze suggested, even though I'll probably die? Ok, maybe not, but any more opinions on anything would be nice.</p>
<p>i took french 7,8, and 9, and chinese 10th (also spoken at home). but then i dropped language junior year because i couldn't fit it into my schedule.</p>
<p>now i'm wondering on whether to take a foreign language at all senior year. I don't think i remember enough french to do it without retaking a class, and I don't really want to take chinese in school because the teacher is not very good.
I'm thinking of starting spanish or japanese, but that gives me three years with three different languages...</p>
<p>Colleges generally only count HS classes. If you had only 2 years of language because you took the highest level your school offers (4 or 5) as a sophomore, you could get away with 2 years, but otherwise it's risky if you are aming for very selective schools.</p>
