Help! I’ve only taken 2 years of Spanish (one in middle school and one in high school) and I’m really concerned whether or not it’s going to affect my admission decisions. I’ve done my research and found schools that only require 2 years (USC, UCs, UMich, and Michigan State, etc.) . My SAT score is decent, 1410 (780 in math and 630 in English…I retook and I think I did slightly better) and my gpa is a 4.1 weighted 3.7 unweighted. I’ve also taken a decent amount of Aps and and honors courses. But would Spanish be a deciding factor in me getting accepted or not ?
I can only address the UC’s, but even though they require 2 years, 3 years is recommended. For the top UC’s such as UCB/UCLA ad UCSD, you want to be competitive as possible so I highly recommend a 3rd year of Spanish. Applicants to the UC’s not only meet the a-g course requirements but will exceed them, so 2 years would not be a rejection but will impact your chances.
Also, the higher level you reach in high school, the more likely you will need fewer foreign language courses in college to fulfill the college’s foreign language graduation requirement, if it has one.
You really should look up the language requirements for all your schools. For instance here is UMich’s:
https://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/college-preparation
Also look and see if there is any foreign language req at college…you might want ones that don’t have one.
I’ve researched schools that only require 2 years, but I am concerned that not taking the 3rd year might still affect my applications since most applicants to competitive schools take 3 years
It might, but if you are a senior there’s nothing you can do about it now so don’t let it stress you out. What classes did you take in lieu of foreign language classes?
@ravster67 Can you take the 3rd year online? Many students do that know…
@suzy100 i took 4 elective science classes (that were honors courses), AP art history, and this year Im doing both AP stats and AP calc to compensate for not doing spanish
@socaldad2002 I’ve been trying to find a course, but I need something that would be really quick so I can put it in my transcript before application deadlines and most courses Ive found are year round.
My D20 is likely taking a course that is only 24 hours of instruction for her 4th year of Spanish (which her private counselor recommended when applying to UCB and UCLA). Let me see if I can get the name of the program?
“Compensate” is not the accurate verb, You chose to take those courses in lieu of Spanish. Maybe it will hurt you or maybe it won’t. But at this point, it is what it is.
Yes it’ll likely impact your decision at the most selective schools.
You can try and register for an online class and try to catch up (hard to do), see if there’s a college Spanish 2 class you can take Winter quarter followed by a college Spanish 3 quarter class (or Spring semester Spanish 2? ← because college Spanish 2 is not the same level as HS Spanish 2) which you could put on your SRAR.
Or you can say, it is what it is, I’ll try my luck.
@socaldad2002 thank you!! That would be really helpful!
@ravster67 the program is through Language Bird. Double check that the course is accredited for the colleges you are looking at applying to.