How important is the foreign language requirement?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a junior this year and I've taken two years of French. French III is completely taught in French, and being not good at speaking and listening makes it even harder for me. I have 5 AP classes this year. I really don't have much time to study for French. So my question is, do I have to have four years' study of a single foreign language in order to make an impression on colleges? Will it do me any harm if I change to another language now?</p>

<p>Oh, and my first language isn't English. I came to America in eighth grade. Technically, international students don't even have to take a foreign language since English is their second language. So is it understandable if I decide to drop French and take another language instead?</p>

2

<p>“do I have to have four years’ study of a single foreign language” </p>

<p>It depends on the sort of college you’re targeting. The more selective the college, the more they expect their applicants to be aggressive, academically. Your current plan of turning away because it’s difficult isn’t a good predictor for success at top schools, to be frank.</p>

3

<p>The reason why I don’t believe it’s completely in French is because how would you learn vocabulary. Pictures only?</p>

4

<p>CSIHSIS: It could be taught in French with teachers pausing to give definitions. There could be classroom conversation in French, articles in French, etc. Definitely done. That’s how my Hebrew classes are.</p>

5

<p>I know it does not make me look challenging, but I just have too much going on junior year. I would not even think about dropping French if I have more free time, because I really like this language…However, I will be taking another language for two consecutive years. Will that redeem my image?</p>

<p>I had a 4.35 GPA last year. If I try to keep it up and do well in my AP tests and SAT, would it offset my decision of dropping French? Are ivies an expectation too high for me?</p>

<p>The teacher explains vocabulary in French, like how we learn new words in English, but learning vocab really is a problem for me since I don’t quite understand what the teacher is saying sometimes.</p>

6

<p>Or is it better that I go back to French II and take French III in senior year?..or is it worse?</p>

<p>I will be really, really thankful if you guys can offer some more advice! I only get to change my schedule by this week.</p>

7

<p>Some colleges require four years, some require three, some only two. Where are you going to apply?</p>

8

<p>U Penn is my dream school:)</p>

9

<p>Penn likes 4 years if your school offers it. You’ll be competing with applicants who do have it. Why put a red flag in your application?</p>

<p>You’re applying to join an academic community. The ability to conduct research in another language is the goal. So, if you haven’t achieved sufficient proficiency before admission, you’ll need to do it in order to graduate.</p>

10

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<p>Usually, the highest level completed of a foreign language is what counts. So taking level 3 of French, then level 1-2 of another language counts as only “3 years”.</p>

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<p>But you want to check the colleges you are interested in to see how your knowledge of your first language may count for this purpose (or if you need to “prove” it somehow by taking a level 4+ course in school or an AP or SAT subject or other test in the language).</p>

11

<p>You may find that your speaking/listening ability in French improves in a comparative “immersion” environment. I think that you would do more harm than good by dropping French and starting a new language, especially if you actually like French. Colleges like Penn want to see mastery of a language, not just time in the seat in a language class. That is why they prefer 4 years of one language.</p>