Help With Class Decision

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everyone,
I'm going to be a senior when school starts this year and I'm having trouble deciding what classes to choose...here's my scenario:</p>

<p>For sure, I'm going to be taking
-AP Literature
-AP Chemistry
-AP Government/Economics
-AP Statistics
-Track and Field</p>

<p>For the last 3 years, I've taken Track & Field and Orchestra as my two non-core classes.
I took Spanish 1 my sophomore year and Spanish 2 the summer before junior year. I did not take a language my junior year. My school offers 6 periods, so that leaves 1 period open for either Orchestra or Spanish 3. This is the decision that I'm having trouble with...</p>

<p>If I take Spanish,
pro: most colleges want at least 3 years
con: classes might be too rigorous</p>

<p>If I take Orchestra,
pro: shows consistency
pro: chill class amid 4 rigorous ones
con: can't take Spanish!</p>

<p>Some background:
-looking at colleges on the MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and Princeton level
-majoring in either engineering or computer science
-took SAT II Chinese and got 790 (so I have 2 years for two different languages)</p>

<p>I guess an underlying questions is: How important is 3 years of foreign language if I'm majoring in engineering/computer science?
Because I know someone who is majoring in physics...he took 2 years of Japanese and got into both Stanford and Princeton...but then again, he's probably an exception.</p>

<p>Hoping someone can help me out!
Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>There’s no upside in you taking orchestra. Not all high schools treat orchestra as a “course”. It is clearly an EC. The main reason for treating it as a course is to allow you to block out a period because of practice and other commitments related to performances etc.</p>

<p>It’s unwise not to take 3 years (and ideally 4) of the samr foreign language. It can only be a negative if you don’t.</p>

3

<p>I’ll get on my foreign language soapbox again. Several things to keep in mind. Schools don’t want to see you slacking off your sr year. You will be judged in part, on how rigoros your schedule was vs what was offered at your school. Many schools consider that foreign language to be a core subject. If you drop it, you need to replace it with something of equal of higher academic value. Anything thought of as chill would not apply. Still want to drop it, how about AP CompSci?</p>