<p>How important is 3 or more years of foreign language? I am a sophomore and am taking spanish 4 now. I really want to take computer science but I would have to drop Spanish. Would this hurt me in college applications?</p>
<p>A lot of your competitors will be taking 3 or 4 years of a foreign language. Is there not something else you could swap out for computer science?</p>
<p>Does the fact that I’m through spanish 4 change anything? Or do colleges only look at what you take in high school. To answer your question i don’t see myself switching comp sci with another class. It’s really between spanish and comp sci.</p>
<p>if you know some of the colleges where you are considering applying, take a look at what they recommend. Know, too, that at some colleges there is a foreign language requirement for college graduation that is waived if you have taken enough of a language in HS or the AP test (details vary by school). So it may be worth getting the language out of the way now.</p>
<p>Do not drop Spanish yet – you should take it at least through your junior year. But check some of the colleges that you are thinking of attending - they can vary. And keep in mind that it isn’t just the years that they require, or recommend, but what the other students applying to those same schools will be taking. I think you can take 3 years and then Comp Sci senior year. Sorry… as to whether taking Spanish 4 would count as more than 2 years, you have to check with the different colleges. I have heard that some state schools do this, but most of the LACs and Ivys do not do this – they want actual years.</p>
<p>The California public universities have detailed policies indicating that they are looking for a level of proficiency. This applies both to admission and for graduation (the graduation standard can vary by campus and major, and is typically higher than the admission standard).</p>
<p>Other colleges and universities do not seem to be very specific about the situation of completing level N after fewer than N years in high school foreign language courses (or acquiring foreign language proficiency in other ways like college courses, heritage learning, living in a country where the language is the main language, etc.). This is odd, since it seems like an FAQ (it certainly seems like an FAQ around these forums).</p>
<p>^Momof2backtoback: they don’t want “actual years”. They do want proficiency. A student who reached French 3 at the end of senior year is considered as having less French than a student who reached AP French junior year and doesn’t have any more language to take beyond that. Obviously, if a student intends on majoring in the humanities or social sciences, the higher the level the better, and if the high school only offers 2 years of Spanish and nothing else the student is expected to try and find a third level, but overall, it’s really proficiency reached, not numbers of years. Same thing for math.
A student who reaches Spanish 4 as a sophomore WOULD be expected to take the AP class junior year for the most selective universities.</p>