Is it really important to have at least 3 years of foreign language for UCLA?

<p>I am a junior and will be applying to UCLA in couple of months. The thing is that I took/taking 2 languages. I took Spanish 1/2 and Korean 1/2 (I took korean outside of school) in my 9th and 10th grade but did not continue to Spanish 3, but I am still in Korean 3 outside of school. I only chose to take Korean 3, because UCs recommend at least 3 years of foreign language. I really don't need this course and just took it to get that 3rd year. And I do get A's in the class. </p>

<p>The thing is that A's in Korean 3 is bringing my GPA down. Grades in Korean goes to my UC Weighted GPA which is currently at 4.5 (would be 4.6 if Korean was not factored into the gpa). I only take APs and honors courses in school and so A's are worth 5 points, but A's in Korean is worth 4. I didn't know language taken outside of school was factored in school and UC gpa. Although this is a good thing for my unweighted gpa (would be 3.8 if korean was not factored in, but it is 3.833 right now), my weighted gpa goes down significantly. </p>

<p>However, I do have a choice in sending my korean language grades to school or not. My Korean 2 grades are already sent, so I can't do anything about that, but I don't have to send Korean 3 grades, which means my weighted GPA would go up. But if I don't send the Korean 3 grades, I would not have that 3rd year of foreign language. I know I have fulfilled the minimum requirement of 2 years of language, but thats just minimum requirement. So what should I do? Should I submit my Korean 3 grades, or not and raise my weighted and UC gpa? I already took Korean SAT and got a 780 on it and passed the highest level international korean proficiency test (TOPIK) so I can show that I am already good at Korean. Is it really important to do the recommended number of years of foreign language?</p>

<p>I went through same situation. Although it does lower your WGPA, it makes you look more proficient in the language. Three years is more impressive than the minimum two years.</p>

<p>UC GPA is capped at 4.5 anyways.</p>

<p>I only took 2 years. But I went from year 1 to AP and I passed the AP test.</p>

<p>Are you sure UC GPA is capped? I know people with 4.7’s and what not.</p>

<p>Oh and I did my final gpa calculations (I already know what grades I will get this semester). These gpa will be my UC GPAs by the time I apply.</p>

<p>If I submit Korean 3..
UC Unweighted: 3.833. UC Weighted 4.5
UC GPA: 4.17</p>

<p>If I don’t…
UC Unweighted: 3.82. UC Weighted: 4.55
UC GPA: 4.18</p>

<p>If I hadn’t submitted Korean 2 and not submit Korean 3…
UC Unweighted: 3.8. UC Weighted: 4.6
UC GPA 4.2</p>

<p>Don’t some high schools allow non-AP classes to taken CR/NC? </p>

<p>I remember during my senior year, one member of the top ten somehow managed to manipulate the principal into retroactively changing old non-weighted courses into CR/NC courses; this then prompted the remaining members of the top ten to do the same --long story short, the average GPA of the top ten began to slowly approach a 5.0 until the process was finally stopped.</p>

<p>Oh I didn’t know you could do that Ektaylor. I will ask my counselor if I can do that, if not, I would still have to choose whether to send in Korean 3 grades or not.</p>

<p>As far as I know, UC gpa is capped at 8 honors/AP semesters. UC weighted is not capped right?</p>

<p>Wouldn’t a 780 in SAT II Korean and passing of level 6 TOPIK test (equivalent to passing an AP Korean test with a 5 if such thing did exist) show proficiency in the language already?</p>

<p>Just take 2 years. If it’s lowering your grade, the third year isn’t worth it.</p>

<p>Thanks Castel. Anymore opinions?</p>

<p>I got into both UCLA and Cal. I took only two years. I took Chinese 3/4 and then I took Chinese 5/6. I skipped Chinese 1/2. Yeah, I’m Taiwanese but I cannot read or write for crap.</p>

<p>But you took higher level language courses. My counselor suggested I submit my Korean 3 grades, but I don’t know…</p>

<p>.01 change in your GPA isn’t going to get to into Berkeley or UCLA. I would suggest submitting all your grades.</p>

<p>umm its 0.1 change. Isn’t that significant?</p>

<p>The UC likes to see completion of at least the third course in a language in general</p>

<p>Do you think my Korean SAT II score and passing of TOPIK would be at least equivalent to a 3rd year in Korean?</p>

<p>I only took Spanish 1 and 2 and I got in. Also, your records do show that you are already proficient in Korean. </p>

<p>If you’re just worried about your GPA, however, I think you should stick with the class. If I were on an admissions committee (though I don’t really know how they think), lower W GPA but with a higher UW & more courses > higher W GPA with less courses.</p>

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<p>Ditto. This is a silly-ass question. Once they see your transcript, they can factor in the .01 change then. Seriously. Send in your Korean 3 grades.</p>

<p>well it would have been a 0.1 change (not 0.01) in my weighted gpa if Korean 2 and 3 were not factored in. But I think I will just submit the grades. Thanks guys. </p>

<p>Oh and I would have at least 50 a-g courses by the time I graduate even if I don’t send in my korean grades.</p>