Hi,
So I move around a lot and my class credits sometimes get messed up because of it so I have a question,
I took “Intro To Spanish” in 9th grade, it was a class mainly for transfer students because in my school you had to take a language in middle school. So I decided to hire a tutor and took Spanish 9 over the summer, so I could catch up with the people in my grade level, however since this was not thru the school it isn’t on my transcript.
Then in the first semester 10th grade I took Spanish 10, but after the first semester my family moved again.
So, now, in the second semester of 10th grade I just recently finished Spanish 3.
On my transcript I have:
Intro to Spanish (sem 1)
Intro to Spanish (sem 2)
Spanish 10 (Sem 1)
Spanish 3 (sem 3)
SO technically I have only have 2 years of Spanish but have the knowledge of 3, so my problem is should I take Spanish 4 next year or will this be OK. I want to apply to highly selective school that say they recommend three years of the same language.
Thanks!
If you are in Spanish 3 then you are finishing up your 3rd year even if it does not look that way on your transcript.
Your guidance counselor should also explain this in the rec. Talk to him/her.
Whether or not to continue depends on the other classes you need or want, how much other rigor you will have, if there’s any schedule conflict, etc, and what possible major.
Kids can put themselves in a risk position when they have less language than a highly competitive school both expects and does get from other applicants.
One semester of Sp3 does not make 3 years of foreign language. The only easy out is if you’re dropping FL for most rigorous classes- eg, stem kids taking post AP math, unable to fit in lang.
From your description, it looks like your old school’s courses were like the following (with your current school’s names being the usual ones):
Usual name Your old school's name
Spanish 1 Intro to Spanish or middle school Spanish<br>
Spanish 2 Spanish 9
Spanish 3 Spanish 10
If so, it looks like you had Spanish 1 (“Intro to Spanish”) in 9th grade at your old school, unrecorded tutoring in Spanish 2 (“Spanish 9”) between 9th and 10th grade, Spanish 3 (“Spanish 10”) first semester at your old school, and Spanish 3 second semester at your current school. Correct?
Foreign languages are usually considered by the highest level achieved, but you can ask colleges directly because there may be some variation across colleges.
Also remember that colleges’ foreign language graduation requirements may be higher than their admission requirements.
its the level that you get to that counts, not the years of study. So you could take another year of spanish as a junior and be done. However, I would look at colleges that you are interested in and see if they have language requirements to graduate…then find out if AP Spanish would place you out of having to do that…or you might think it better to keep going in spanish so you will be ready to continue in college.
I would take Spanish 4 at that school, just to reassure colleges that indeed you reached that level even if you only took 1 semester of Spanish 2 and 1 semester of Spanish 3.