Foreign language vs another ap?

<p>I took spanish 1-3 starting in 8th grade, 2 in 9th and 3 as a sophomore. I know many selective colleges want to see three years of Spanish. Do they consider nonhighschool spanish (8th grade) as part of these three years? Now as a junior is it more beneficial to take spanish 4 or another ap? </p>

<p>bump</p>

<p>It depends on the context of your other courses and your college aspirations. On the basis of the limited information provided, I would say take Spanish 4.</p>

<p>I agree, take Spanish 4 and/or AP (depending on how your HS calls it).</p>

<p>@skieurope @MYOS1634‌ </p>

<p>Sorry for the limited information. My school has block scheduling, so instead of taking Spanish 4 I could take APUSH, AP Comp Gov, or AP Enviro. In my district, language begins in 8th Grade with Spanish 1 and I took one level per year. So now, in 11th grade, I’m going to take Spanish 4. AP Spanish is the “advanced” version of Spanish 5 and requires Spanish 4 as a prereq. I don’t have much of an interest to take it in Senior Year, which is chock full of APs, unless it is highly recommended. As far as aspiring colleges, my reaches are UPenn, Princeton, Cornell, MIT, Brown. My probable matches are Carnegie-Mellon, Boston University and my safeties are UPitt, John Hopkins, Rutgers. I hope to major in pre-med/Computer Science.</p>

<p>Here is my High School Schedule</p>

<p>As in AP Euro and AP Stat as Sophomore</p>

<p>Junior Year
AP Language and Composition
AP Computer Science
AP Biology
AP Calc AB
AP Psychology (Self-Study because school doesn’t offer)
Honors American Government (I am not allowed to take any AP alternative)
Honors Spanish 4
PE (need credit)
Study Hall</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP Physics B
AP Physics C
AP Calc BC
AP Macroeconomics
AP Chem
Honors English (I am not allowed to take any AP alternative)
Study Hall
Study Hall</p>

<p>You have level 3 already, but many colleges consider it a plus to have level 4 or higher. Also, many colleges have foreign language graduation requirements, so taking a higher level in high school may allow fulfilling the foreign language graduation requirement with fewer courses (because you can start in a more advanced course in college).</p>

<p>Take Honors Spanish 4 and then the SAT Subject; if you score high enough, you may place out of the college language requirement, or have fewer semesters to take.
I don’t recommend taking Physics 1 or 2 (B no longer exists) along with Physics C.
Don’t overload on APs -4-8 total for your entire high school career is plenty for the top schools.
Note that JHU can’t be anyone’s safety, it’s a “reach for everyone” school.</p>

<p>I still think that you should take Spanish next year, and agree that you should take the SAT subject test to possibly place out of subject requirements in college.</p>

<p>@MYOS1634 OP has stated that the school is on a block schedule; if s/he has not had physics before, AP Physics 1 would/could be a prerequisite for Physics C. If s/he’s previously taken physics, then, yes, Physics 1 would be a waste of time.</p>

<p>Self studying AP Psych is probably not the best use of your time; it won’t beef up your college application, and many of the reach schools will not give credit for it, nor will your "safety, Johns Hopkins. Also, any school with a sub 20% acceptance rate is a safety for nobody.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. I will go ahead and take Spanish, and I never knew about the subject test so I will consider it although Spanish is not my strongest suit. </p>

<p>Sorry if I came across as pretentious with my college (safety/match/reach) rankings. I don’t really know exactly what colleges I want to go to so I just put a few down with limited knowledge.</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus So when colleges say “three years”, do they mean three years of High School Spanish, or three levels of Spanish in general? Because couldn’t school districts arbitrarily name a class Spanish II even if it only covers what is all covered in Spanish I in another district?</p>

<p>A lot of colleges have a requirement that you take a foreign language to graduate, depending on your major. Giving up Spanish now would mean you would have to pick it up after a two year hiatus, or start over with a new language when you get there. My kids loathed their foreign language (and were terrible at it, as a family we have no knack at all for learning other languages). But they stuck with it to minimize the number of semesters they would have to take in college. Both stuck with their language through the AP level senior year. Both got 2s on the AP test, and just didn’t send them to their colleges (not required, and their admissions were already in place by the time they got the scores back because it was senior year).</p>

<p>When D1 got to college, she had to take a placement test in her language. She missed placing out altogether by one point and had to take one semester. D2 picked a STEM school, which had no language requirement.</p>

<p>Unless you are going to be an engineering major or you know you are going to a STEM/technology focused school, I think you are best served by sticking it out, through the AP level if possible.</p>

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<p>Usually, highest level completed is more important than number of years completed. Students can enter high school with placement in a level higher than the high school’s level 1 for various reasons.</p>

<p>^ Agreed. The level completed is the important factor.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all your insight. Taking AP Spanish in my senior year wasn’t even on my mind, but now I’m considering it.</p>