At my high school when you enter you are put into Spanish (or whatever other language you want) 1, 2, or 3. 1 is if you have no prior knowledge of the subject, 2 you normally go into regularly from middle school for the average student, and 3 if you really have a passion for the language. From there you need to complete (from where you enter) Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, Honors Spanish 4, Honors Spanish 5 and then AP Spanish. I (stupidly) decided I wanted one easy class freshman year since all my others were honors and entered Spanish 2 when I really should have just done 3. However now I am behind and not on the track to do AP Spanish senior year. If I really want to I can take 4 over the summer this year and then enter 5 junior year and AP senior year. However I am already doing a finance class this summer plus am going to Europe for two weeks and doing other things and would rather not do a very time consuming language course. My question is do you think it will matter whether I am taking AP Spanish or not? I am going to go into a Math/Science field for sure and am aiming for schools such as Georgetown and Duke. Senior year I will likely already be taking other APs such as Calc AB, Biology, Phycology, Environmental Science, Literature, and possibly Chemistry so would it make a difference whether my Spanish was an AP?
In my opinions there are several factors that you first have to consider. Firstly, and most important (At least I believe), do you want to study Spanish? I feel like learning new languages is something that will be useful for a person’s entire life, which is why I am taking multiple language classes even though I will not major in a field related to language. If you feel like it wouldn’t be useful for you (And that might be the case if you think so), or simply would not like taking another language course, it might be better to focus on subjects which you truly enjoy and would like to focus on. Next, would it be too difficult? I see that you are taking multiple AP courses, and that can be a challenge. You have to carefully think about the amount of time you will have to spend on AP Spanish, because at least for me, learning languages is something that takes time and a lot of practice to get good at. Overall, you would have to carefully think about whether you want to continue Spanish or not. If you do not continue it with AP Spanish, it is highly likely that you would altogether forget the language, yet if you do take AP Spanish, it could have a negative impact on your other academics. I cannot give a concrete answer because that is truly up to you to decide. Good luck!
Thank you for your advice @swissmontenegrin ! I do not want to pursue language in college or major in it but I do think it would be a useful thing to do… I think I’ll ask around to see how much work AP Spansih is at my school and determine if I can balance that with my other classes
If you are in Spanish 5 senior year it’ll be fine for virtually all colleges, although of course they prefer AP - but it’s not a deal breaker (the way being in Spanish 2 would be, or being in Spanish 3 would look).