Dropping 4th year language

Applying to College
1

<p>I am a rising senior in HS. I'm looking to go into computer science and music tech, and I recently faced a scheduling dilemma: I had taken 3 years of German up until this year and loved it. The German teacher at our school is wonderful and it's really a great class and a great language. To my dismay, I found out that there was simply no way that I could take German IV this year. German is the least-taken language at my school and there is only 1 class of German IV. Putting this class into my schedule would have prevented me from taking either AP English or BC Calculus (which has only two classes), and of course I could not afford to neglect either of those. I inquired about independent study with my teacher but unfortunately she doesn't let any students to it, regardless of their caliber. So I was forced to drop German.</p>

<p>What I want to know is, will colleges look unfavorably upon this? I'm a good student (4.0 UW, all honors/AP classes) as well as a varsity athlete and a musician. I'm not applying to any Ivies but I am applying to some very good public/private schools including Michigan, Northwestern, NYU, and possibly Cal Berkeley. I do not believe any of these schools require a 4th year of foreign language (will have to check with Berkeley) but I just hope that this doesn't hurt me. I'd like to think that I tried every avenue to fit German into my schedule; it just didn't work out.</p>

2

<p>It probably won’t factor into greatly. Your application is holistic. 4th year language won’t be the breaking point if you point out you sacrificed language for AP english or math.</p>

3

<p>I agree with college junkie - Have your GC wite note explaining the situation. My son was in a similar situation, but he got school to drop gym requirement, freeing up time for Spanish 5. Unfortunately, the GC still has to write a note and also explain how they effed up son’s multi-variate calc class. I’m still steamed… :(</p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

4

<p>In the section of the app where you provide other, freeform information, explain the situation, emphasizing how much you enjoyed studying German, how disappointed you were that you could not continue, and (if true) that you’re looking forward to picking it up again in college. Then spend some time on the German websites to keep your skills up. </p>

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