<p>Hey everyone. Quick question. </p>
<p>I am trying to decide if I should take Latin III next year. I hear it's extremely difficult and I would rather not take it. </p>
<p>However, when I see college admission pages, many say they require 2 years of a language (which I have), but recommend 3 - 4. My question is basically how much of a fuss will colleges make over only having 2 years of a language? Could that sway my admission chances significantly, even if I look good other places? Does it depend on the major at all (possibly pol. sci. or IR)?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>The importance of language only goes up. I'd at lesat try to get to level 3 of a language. I also find that you can't trust what people say about language classes.</p>
<p>What do you mean you can't trust what that who says?</p>
<p>Well from my experience you need to experience a language to judge it. If you have strong grades in Latin then there is no reason not to get the third year. You may not like it but it's very beneficial to have at least 3 years.</p>
<p>Well,</p>
<p>Latin I i got a 92 (A)</p>
<p>Honors Latin II i got a 87 (B)</p>
<p>and my reasoning is that I have heard that Latin 3 is much more difficult than Latin II and I just don't want to let my gpa slip. (by potentially getting a C in that class. )</p>
<p>Do what the colleges you are looking at say is "REQUIRED".</p>
<p>Stop sweating what they say is "RECOMMENDED".</p>
<p>Take something that is more interesting to you than Latin 3, and get a good grade in it.</p>
<p>College admissions committees know that not everyone has time in their schedule to take three years of foreign language.</p>
<p>@ happymom</p>
<p>That's the advice I've been hoping someone would say, because it's definitely how I feel. </p>
<p>So would I be correct in saying that only having 2 years will most likely NOT sway my admission somewhere? (not ivies or anything)</p>
<p>yeah im thinkning it wont as long as you take an equally or more challenging class in its place....correct me if im wrong</p>
<p>buzzardsbay -</p>
<p>If the admissions committee isn't interested in you only because you decided to take something that is more interesting to you than a third year of a language, then that is a college you absolutely don't want to go to! </p>
<p>FWIW happynephew1 applied to one and only one university (his home state flagship because of his specific major field) and got in without ever darkening the door of a single foreign language class, and happynephew2 got into his first choice small regional LAC with two years of Spanish.</p>
<p>You will do much better in classes that are more interesting to you. Life is waaaay too short to be wasted on things like an unwanted Latin 3 when there is an unexplored Photography 1 (or if you prefer, Chemistry 2) that you are just dying to take!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Admissions are one thing; fulfilling a language requirement at a school are quite another. Language requirements are highly variable from school to school. In addition, some majors don't have a foreign language requirement. For other majors a modern foreign language - not Latin - is required. Some FL requirements can be met through SAT II or AP scores. Some schools give all incoming freshmen placement tests. Some schools require at least 1 FL course regardless. It is generally beneficial to have taken a language in your senior year if you think you will be required to take a placement test or will have to take at least 1 semester in college. The better idea you have of the school you are interested and what you want to major in, the more you will be able to exercise some foresight in the number and timing of HS language classes.</p>
<p>A friend of mine got into Northwestern and Rice with only taking 2 years of a language..and he took that in middle school but got high school credit for it.</p>
<p>If you're looking at IR, having some experience with a modern language might help your chances. My mom majored in that at Georgetown, and she was required to be fluent in another language to graduate. You could learn the language in college, but a head start might not hurt. </p>
<p>You can probably ditch Latin. I went on to AP Vergil because I hate leaving things unfinished (and I wanted to go to AP level in all my subjects, just because I'm OCD like that...). You might want to try another, more useful language, though!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies guys. They have been helpful. I'm probably not going to continue with Latin 3 because first of all I don't want to take it, and because if I did have to have a language req. for my major, it wouldn't be Latin. (not a modern lang.) Also Latin has just become annoying to me all together - - uhhhhhggg the conjugations, declensions, case uses, etc. just **** me off in general. (anyone who has studied latin can relate)</p>
<p>However, the only other languages my HS offers are Spanish and French. I guess Spanish would be useful, but as for IR as a major, I would rather be fluent in something else like Arabic or Chinese so I would have to just take that in college - - so if I applied for an IR major and only had 2 years of Latin, would they look down upon that, or would they just be like "oh it's ok he can take something while he's here." ? (btw thanks again for the help everyone and sorry if the last question sounds repeated. I just don't want to hurt myself)</p>
<p>I think it depends on whether the school that only requires 2 years but recommends more is a safety, match or reach, given your other stats. It is more likely to hurt you if it is a reach school where you are at the lower end of the applicant pool already.</p>
<p>I won't tell you to take more Latin or not, but it is something that you should be aware of.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you would be taking instead of the language. If you're going to drop out just to have a slack class like P.E., then I would stay in.
Personally, I struggled immensely with Spanish, and it was by far my hardest class. So I stopped after sophomore year and elected to take AP Statistics in its place.
As someone's already said, if a college isn't going to take you because you only took two years of foreign language. Well - you probably don't want to go there anyway. College admissions aren't about strict guidelines for the most part, they look at you as a whole.</p>
<p>@jock</p>
<p>Yeah I agree. I don't think I would want to go somewhere where they are rejecting me because I have 2 years of a language. </p>
<p>Thanks again everyone.</p>