<p>Hey everyone, Thanks in advance for your help. </p>
<p>So I've taken 2 years of Spanish in MS, and I did very well. I'm in my first year at HS doing Spanish 3 Honors, but I'm barely getting a B. I've got serious interest in STEM related fields, probably engineering major (I'm Asian LOL) and I'm in the most advanced math, science and tech classes. I hate taking Spanish in my HS and our department is seriously notorious; almost everyone stops after Spanish 3 or 4 at most. I hope to apply to top schools in engineering i.e., MIT, CMU, Stanford assuming my stats are in order, but I'd also consider programs at Harvard and Yale, again assuming my stats are in order. The latter colleges "recommend" 4 years which most people have told me I should read as required. However, I don't want to start a new language, and I would hate to continue with the next levels of Spanish in my HS. I've done my homework and have been searching for online and cc classes for the next level, but it's been futile. My question: if I show I have serious passion AS WELL AS TALENT, do I still have a shot at more liberal artsy colleges like Harvard and Yale, etc? I do have SOME interest in literature, I must confess ;-). </p>
<p>Engineering and literature; some combo huh? </p>
<p>Hmmm, do you hang out with any friends who are native speakers of Spanish? If so, you might want to talk to them in Spanish, since that may help you do better in Spanish courses as well as perhaps making it “stick” better after you stop taking the Spanish courses.</p>
<p>I’m not convinced 2 yrs of a language in HS after 2 years in middle school will be seen as the 4 years the most selective colleges are looking for. Some may see it that way, others not. They’re looking for you to push yourself with the most demanding curriculum available to you. If you’re good in STEM but don’t push yourself in other areas, that puts you at a disadvantage relative to other candidates who are firing on all cylinders. You’ll get in somewhere but maybe not HYPS where any question mark in your resume could prove fatal.</p>
<p>^the GC at my school has repeatedly told me that taking up to Spanish 4, regardless of where it is taken, counts as four years because you’ve reached the proficiency of four years of a language.</p>
<p>Yes, but GCs are often misinformed. Look, if you were in an accelerated math sequence and took Calc I in 10th grade but then stopped taking math, do you think the most selective colleges would say, “Well, this kid took only 2 yrs of math in HS and not the recommended 4, but that’s OK because he achieved the level of math proficiency we expect”? No, they’d say, “Why did this kid stop taking math?” At least some of them would. Run-of-the-mill schools might say, “Fine, whatever.” The most selective schools aren’t looking for basic proficiency. They’re looking for kids who take on the most demanding academic challenges, and triumph. Kids who come in offering basic proficiency are a dime-a-dozen to them.</p>
<p>First, Seahawks506 is correct. If you placed into year 3 of Spanish when you entered High School then the “how” of your previous study of Spanish is irrelevant. By successfully completing year 4 of Spanish you will meet the 4 year of one language recommendation of the Harvards and Yales of the world.</p>
<p>Second, 2 years of middle school Spanish is rarely equivalent to 2 years of high school Spanish. I expect that you spent part of your freshman year catching up, and hence the “B” rather than an A. Perhaps a better approach would have been for you to start off with Spanish 2 in high school. Under the circumstances your final grade strikes me as quite good. If you’re now caught up, and you make an effort not to regress over the summer (a major risk) in language study, your grade in Spanish 4 may turn out to be higher.</p>
<p>Third, self study in a foreign language to the exclusion of classroom study is very difficult. You need the speaking, listening and conversational component to effectively master the language. It would be unusual for someone with your background to self study for an AP exam in the language and score a “5”. My sense is that you would need to get a 5 to compensate for not taking the fourth year of the language. Taking the SAT 2 exam as an alternative to taking the class is unlikely to impress.</p>
<p>Finally, I am baffled by the attitude that comes through in your post. I expect that you’re a rising sophomore. That you’ve concluded that the Spanish department in your high school is seriously notorious is difficult to understand, and that you’re considering acting on the certain “truth” of that conclusion is troublesome. You don’t come across as the kind of student that very selective schools are looking for.</p>
<p>I think this is incorrect. Yale, for example, says it doesn’t have a foreign language requirement, but it is looking for students who took the most rigorous curriculum available to them, and that “generally” means “you should try to take courses each year in English, science, math, the social sciences, and foreign language.” In other words, they are not looking for proficiency in a foreign language. They are looking for a rigorous and balanced curriculum. Assuming Yale actually adheres to its stated policy, I should think an applicant who took only 2 years of a foreign language in HS, even if those are labeled “Spanish 3” and “Spanish 4,” would raise some eyebrows. Unless, of course, that’s all the high school offered. </p>
<p>Here’s a little more from Yale’s website:</p>
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<p>Seems to me the OP is looking to avoid advanced study of Spanish. If that means no foreign language study in years 3 and 4 of HS, it’s hard to see how a school like Yale would look favorably upon that choice. But of course the OP is free to do as s/he chooses.</p>
<p>^Harvard, on the other hand, does seem to want proficiency in a foreign language. But they also emphasize the importance of continuity of language study, in part because they seem to want students who will study foreign languages at Harvard. Here’s their advice to HS students preparing for college:</p>
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<p>In short, Harvard might view getting through Spanish 3 and Spanish 4 as sufficient to give you the level of proficiency in a foreign language that they seek—though ultimately the test for them is not how many years you’ve studied it, but proficiency in reading literature in that language, coupled with the ability to speak it at an acceptable level. But based on the statement above, I imagine if you asked a Harvard admissions office whether it’s a good idea to stop after completing Spanish 4 in your sophomore year, the answer would be, “No; the farther you go with the language, the better, and if you drop it after your sophomore year in HS your skills in that language are likely to atrophy and regress in your final two years of high school.” So at the end of the day, I don’t think Harvard’s advice if very far away from Yale’s: both would probably recommend studying a language straight through HS, regardless of how much of that language you had pre-HS.</p>
<p>Of course, in your example, it is entirely possible for a student who completes calculus (or even precalculus) to have exhausted the math offerings at his/her high school, and community college courses may not be a realistic option for some students (too full, schedule does not work, etc.).</p>
<p>Completing a higher level should look better than taking more years but only reaching a lower level, though it is entirely possible for some schools to see it differently. However, stopping before exhausting the high school’s course offerings will not look as good as completing whatever the highest level exists at the high school. Taking college courses afterward would be a bonus.</p>
<p>Of course. I think that’s implicit in what I’ve been saying. If you’ve exhausted what the school offers, that counts as a good reason not to continue in a subject. And it’s probably true that very few high schools can go beyond introductory calculus in math. </p>