<p>How important are foregin languages to colleges? I mean, is 2 years enough? Becuase, I would rather do things that I am better at, and are more advanced, and better...like AP Programming. Fresh and Soph year I took Spanish and Latin, is that enough?</p>
<p>Depends on where you want to go. The better colleges--Ivies, Cal, etc.--want to see you taking 3-4 years of a foreign language (and an AP course in one is great on a college app). 2 might suffice. How good are you at the language?</p>
<p>Also depends on your major -- most engineering majors will often require 2 only, but others do require 3~4 years.</p>
<p>Well, I do want to be an engineer major. But, places like Johns Hopkins say they recommend 4 years of foregin language...which I really don't want to do. Will they know what my desired major is when applying, so they can judge off of that? I suck at foregin languages btw, and don't see myself doing an AP in it. Although it could be doable, it would be way too much work that I need to save for my other AP classes.</p>
<p>Anyone else have any insight?</p>
<p>If you're doing engineering, two years should suffice, but then again, you probably should try to meet all the recommended criteria at your top choice colleges. And of course, there are people like me who, despite applying as an engineer, have 8 years of foreign language ^^</p>
<p>But again, if you fear you won't score too well in them, or that because of foreign language you think you'll do worse in your other courses, I think you should avoid it. As an engineering major, it's probably not worth having one more year of foreign language to meet some recommended course load if it's going to kill your math and science scores...</p>
<p>Will they know my major when I am applying?</p>
<p>I believe that colleges only look at the LEVEL of your foreign language class. IE, if you took German 1 in 8th grade, but hit German 3 in 10th, I believe that it would be considered 3 years of FL taken even though you only took 2 in high school.</p>
<p>DirectorsCut,</p>
<p>Most colleges count the number of years taken in high school, not the level.</p>
<p>two years might be enough if it is of the SAME language......</p>
<p>Concur with directors cut -- if you take Span 3/4 as a Frosh, colleges give you credit for having fulfilled the admission requirement.</p>
<p>Most state universities require 2 years of the same foreign language as the minimum. Some recommend 3 years.<br>
I've looked at lots of websites because my S2, a jr, is terrible at FL (currently failing Span. 2) but a good student in other subjects. We cannot afford privates (you can get into some privates without meeting the 2 year requirement) and am very frustrated by the requirement since what he wants to major in does not require any foreign language courses once in college. You just have to have them to get admitted.</p>
<p>Packmom, My sons also do not like FL. Have you found public schools that require minimal foreign language?</p>
<p>I took 2 years of both spanish and latin, in the same 2 years. Should I continue one of them next year? Continuing both is out of the question.</p>
<p>I would continue Spanish for another year to get the three years of a single foreign language recommended by most schools.
I took four years of Latin and it just gets more and more pointless as you proceed.</p>
<p>I wanted to take Latin, but my school didn't offer it, was it that bad?</p>
<p>At first it's rather funny because everything is so new and exciting and the textbook was quite interesting/entertaining. But later we read original Latin texts (2000+ years old) exclusively and those are rather dull.
In addition, Latin is a dead language, and that's why we didn't learn how to speak it, not even how to translate something from German into Latin, but only how to read and analyse Latin texts and translate them into German (I live in Germany btw).</p>
<p>I have a question-- will it look bad if my school offers AP foreign language courses but I end up taking the honors course instead? (in the eyes of the top colleges, I mean.)</p>
<p>It won't look "bad", but it will also not look like you challenged yourself as much as you were able to.
If you can, why not take the AP course?</p>
<p>because I think I will die. lol. well I probably won't die, but... hah, you know what I mean.
Reading this board has given me the sad impression that if you have a 2400 SAT and a 4.0 GPA, you'll be about average. Having a 3.9 means you're out. Haha. ;) Thanks.</p>
<p>papercrane, it's about your schedule overall. If you're challenging yourself more in your areas of interest than in things you don't care about, that's OK.</p>