Foreign Language Problem

Applying to College
1

<p>My school only offered Spanish I and II to Junior and Seniors - Freshmen and Sophomores are not offered any. In my sophomore year I wanted to take something I thought would be really interesting and decided to take Latin I online as part of the Louisiana Virtual School that my school allows some students to partake in. Now I realize that while I enjoyed this class, it would have probably been more prudent to take a class like Spanish or French because the virtual school only offers two years of Latin. Now I know that most top schools, which is what I am aiming for, highly recommend having at least 3 years of the same language. So now I am going to be a junior next year and I have one credit of Latin.</p>

<p>Here are my scenarios:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I could continue taking Latin II next year as a Junior. This would give me the required credits of foreign language to graduate and qualify for TOPS (a Louisiana financial aid program), and I would see no reason to pursue another language course my senior year.</p></li>
<li><p>I could fit four years of French (I would much prefer over Spanish) into my Junior and Senior years by taking French I this summer, French II over my junior year, French III next summer, and AP French my senior year. This would give me five total credits.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>My counselor is concerned that colleges would not appreciate that I took only one year of Latin then suddenly changed my language, but I don't know if only two years of Latin would be impressive. Of course it must say something that I am pursuing these courses at all, because my school itself only offers two years of Spanish, so I am going above and beyond what was available to me with the online classes.</p>

<p>While I am on the subject of classes and which ones my school offers, how important, honestly, is the rigor of my high school courses to schools like Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Columbia? It is very difficult for me to get the academic challenges I want from my school (which offers no AP classes) and I can take some classes online at the school but the school has to pay a lot of money per each class I take so they are very picky as to which classes they want me taking. We HAVE to take a religion class every year (not a bad thing, but I'm just pointing out that this does take away a period that could otherwise be devoted to a more typical class) and I am planning on taking AP English Language and AP English Literature, and AP Calculus all online. This would be only three APs when I know many of the applicants to these schools have 6 and way more! </p>

<p>Thank you for any advice! Please reply as soon as possible because I have to make a decision before the school year ends next week! lol. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Question: Are these foreign language classes mainly for app boosting, or do you have a genuine interest in these languages?</p>

<p>For me, I enjoy languages, and so I have used Rosetta Stone for a few (Russian, Arabic, Spanish to date) even though this won’t help my college app-- I simply love certain languages, and wish to be fluent in many.</p>

<p>Just keep in mind that it’s okay to pursue interests that won’t help your app. Conversely, you shouldn’t pursue something not of interest for the sole purpose of boosting your app.</p>

3

<p>When you apply to college, your guidance officer will send along a copy of the HS profile which describes the overall academic program at your school. He/she will indicate if you have pursued the most rigorous schedule possible or if you have pursued a less demanding program. If your school only offers two years of a language then it is perfectly fine for you to only have two years of a language. The college/university admissions officers know full well that different HS offer different things. And there is nothing wrong with taking a year of one language and then dropping it in favor of a second one, or taking two years of one and then a year or two of another if you are working within the limits of your school’s offerings.</p>

4

<p>But honestly which scenario is more appealing? Two years of latin or one year of latin and four years of french?</p>

5

<p>Honestly, it doesn’t matter. And, there would be nothing wrong with the one year of Latin that you’ve done so far, and the two years of French that your school offers. What do you want the foreign language(s) for other than college admission? Are you a budding Classical Archaeologist or Medieval Historian (needs Latin), or are you hell-bent on a Junior Year in France (needs French)? Do you just like learning other languages?</p>

<p>If you want to do all the extra foreign language, fine, but you don’t have to give up every breathing minute of your life to squeeze it in. Think about all of the other activities you might want to be doing: sports, theater, music, part-time job, major volunteer commitment, getting enough sleep so that you are happy and healthy. Don’t let your worry about “having enough foreign language just to get into college” take over your life.</p>

6

<p>Thank you that was the inspirational answer I was looking for!</p>