Hello! I’m a Canadian student applying to universities next fall (as an international) and and I know that Harvard recommends “Four years of a single foreign language”. So far I have three years of French, but my average for french has significantly dropped to about an 85, and so I was considering dropping French. Should I take French since most Ivy Leagues recommend it, even if it means I might get a mark in the mid 80s? And in addition to this, will this 85 in grade 11 French hurt my application?
If you are looking towards applying to schools that recommend 4 years of foreign language then I’d strongly urge you to take four years of foreign language. Do what you can to try to bring up the grade – seek out help from your teacher, a tutor, online aids etc. These top schools have an acceptance rate generally under 10% and most of the applicants will have taken all of the recommended HS courses so if you don’t it will be a disadvantage. I’d also urge you to look beyond Ivy schools.
I agree with @happy1 . I will also add that Canadian schools are well-known for grade deflation, and all US colleges know this. So a grade in the 80’s is fine. That said, many Ivy League schools and their peers reject 90%+ of applicants, so a perfect grade will not guarantee acceptance either.
You should continue taking French for several reasons:
Many colleges, besides Harvard, recommend four years of a single foreign language in high school.
If your high school offers AP French, and you score a 4 or 5 on the AP Exam, many colleges will exempt you from their foreign language classes, or they will reduce the number of college foreign language classes you must take in order to graduate from college.
If you continue with a 4th year of french, taking a college level french class will be easier no matter what level you are place in.
A Province of your country speaks French, so you should know how to converse fluently in the language.