<p>Hi, I will be attending CC in the fall. I have a question about the foreign languages at Columbia, however. I was debating whether to take Chinese (my native language that I'm pretty positive I will do well in) or Spanish (I took AP Spanish in high school, but failed the AP test, so its really tough for me =/). As I am thinking about pursuing the pre-med track, my college GPA will be very important (I hear medical schools dont take applicants with lower than a 3.7 or a 3.6).....so any thoughts? How hard is the Spanish curriculum at Columbia?</p>
<p>If you believe you have a language learning disability, you can contact the office of disability services. They will meet with you and if they believe you in fact do have a disability, they’ll either assign a tutor for you, have someone take notes for you during your lectures, or allow you to take courses about a region of the world (four semesters) instead of doing a language</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that failing to pass an ADVANCED placement test is not evidence of a language learning disability. You may be better off taking advanced Chinese classes if you know the language well. However, if Chinese is actually your first language, then taking it might not fulfill the foreign language requirement. I wouldn’t worry about the Spanish curriculum; it’s far easier than Chinese!</p>
<p>Wait are you serious? If you’re bilingual and your first language is not english, then you can’t take your native language and fulfill the language requirement? o.0</p>
<p>From the Columbia Core page:</p>
<p>“Students whose native language is not English are not required to take an additional foreign language or an achievement test if they have completed the secondary school requirement in the native language.”</p>
<p>I assume if you are bilingual but didn’t attend high school in the non-English language, you just have to pass a proficiency test in that language. See this page for the various other ways to fulfill the foreign language requirement:</p>
<p>[Foreign</a> Language Requirement | The Core Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/fl.php]Foreign”>Foreign Language Requirement | The Core Curriculum)</p>