<p>I'm about to start my junior year of high school but will not have another year of Spanish on my transcript. I took Spanish 1 in 8th grade (which does not appear on my transcript), and Spanish 2 & 3 my freshman and sophomore years. My grades in the classes were always strong A's, but I simply replaced Spanish this year with a Speech & Debate course that will help me when it comes to competing this season. As someone interested in majoring in Government/Political Science (and possibly Economics), how much will this set me back in college admissions. </p>
<p>I have a 4.0 UW, and my course rigor is pretty strong (i'll have 8 APs upon graduation).
African American male with a projected 30 ACT (I'm still working on it, and start SAT prep soon). </p>
<p>I'm not really looking at Ivies or anything like that. The highest tier I'm looking at is Vanderbilt, Emory, William and Mary, and Wake Forest. Beyond that I'm looking at GaTech (in-state), UGA, UMiami, Tulane, and American. With the latter two being where I most likely see myself.</p>
<p>I would not worry about it at all. It shouldn’t be a factor for the schools on your list. Put your focus on your test prep, and enjoy the upcoming year in speech and debate!</p>
<p>Thanks, I guess I’m just worried since my degrees lean Liberal Arts focused, and I wasn’t sure if they’d see it as two years or three (though I guess that might depend on who’s reading my transcript). </p>
<p>I think they will notice the numbers and realized you knocked off a year of study before getting to high school. Seriously. Don’t worry about it. Not a problem.</p>
<p>You might talk to your guidance counselor and pehaps he/she can include in your recommendation that a year of HS Spanish was taken in middle school. </p>
<p>They will see it as the 3rd year of study which is what counts. Not as strong as 4 years, but sufficient. Some times you give up one thing for another if it is important to you. I suppose if you have speech and debate as ECs then you might mention it. The language is likely a stronger option but you have to make choices sometimes. It should not be a problem.</p>
<p>With respect, not ALL colleges are going to count it as 3 years. My D was in the same situation and we called each admissions office at the colleges she was interested in to see whether they’d count it as 2 or 3 years. Though most said 3, a couple of them said it would only count as 2 years, even though she’d completed Spanish 3. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a huge deal-breaker, if everything else in your application is strong, but I wanted to point out that it isn’t automatically seen as 3 years…</p>