<p>Middlebury quite obviously has a great reputation for its language departments and its love of a diverse student body. Those are the reasons that drew me to it in the first place. But I have to wonder if the fact that I chose to take Latin in high school will hurt my chances. By the time I graduate I will have taken it for four years, been president of Latin club, won various awards at competitions, and possibly will have taken the AP test as a self-study. Middlebury, however, seems to emphasize the so-called living languages more than the classical ones. I am also taking Chinese, but I am starting it in my Junior year due to lack of opportunity before now. I just want to know if my choice of a "dead" language and my late start on a difficult one will hurt my chances or if it will set me apart from those who took more common languages. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I am not about to claim that I understand what the admissions office over in the Emma Willard house is looking for in a future MiddKid, however what I have noticed is that all of the members of my class (2012) are interesting in some way or another (this should be in italics, sorry I have no clue how to do it on a post). The fact that you study latin, which few high school students study, makes you slightly more interesting than the scores of people who took spanish, french, etc. I am NOT diminishing the importance of these languages (I studied French myself) or saying it is in anyway a huge advantage (it most likely is negligible). All I am trying to express is that it differentiates you from a good percentage of the applicant pool, something that is important.</p>
<p>Also, some anecdotal evidence: one of my suitemates only took latin as a language in high school and similar excelled at latin competitions (he surprised me when he told me they exist) and was his high school's latin club president. But, as I said, he is one of the most interesting people I know. In a nutshell, he's a Classics major (yes, there still exist) on a pre-med track, plays the bagpipes with considerable skill, swims on the varsity team, and has a penchant for all things Irish, Roman, or James Bond related. Interesting? I'd say so. </p>
<p>Btw, I'm a really glad to see your interest in Midd. It really is an intellectual heaven on earth. I'm on break now and am suffering from Midd-sickness (the yearning to be back at Midd). Also, I applaud you for taking Chinese. I just finished Chinese 101 this semester and I can honestly say that it is the first class that truly kicked my ass. I loved every minute of it, but its tough here. Then again, Midd probably has the (or one of the) best Chinese departments in the country and all the profs are incredibly. Good luck on the application process, it'll be over in a few months and you'll look back on it and laugh at how worked up you get. Trust me, I did.</p>
<p>thanks infidel217! i'm a junior, so i've only started seriously considering colleges and narrowing the list. i appreciate your input on Middlebury. i don't know if i can get in, but it's good to know that my language choice won't hurt my chances!</p>
<p>I'm a senior at Midd. I took seven years of Latin before college and never took a class in a modern language. Didn't seem to hurt me at all in admissions - I think they just want to see some language courses. Also, I don't know if you're interested in taking Latin in college, but I took several semesters of Latin here and had a very positive experience. Good luck!</p>
<p>secret777 LISTEN carefully to infidel 217. stick with latin. i have heard from too many sources that latin, especially at the NESCAC schools (as recently as a coworker who was told this by the hockey coach at amherst), that latin is a unique, and sought after, component of an application. naturally you want to do well in it, take the sat 2, eg, but dont doubt for a moment its importance. all of the kids who check off "classics" interest on their apps thinking they have a leg up in the app process w/o latin or greek (4 years of it) arent fooling anyone. there was a recent article in the NYTimes the very issue you have raised. ("A Dead Language thats Very Much Alive", oct 7 2008).</p>