<p>Is self studying a language a hook? I am going to learn Esperanto, then move on to Spanish and if there is still time left in my high school career, move to French. Would this be helpful in the slighest in admissions to ivies and other top schools.</p>
<p>It would certainly not be a detriment to say you’re fluent in a language that you taught yourself. It shows interest and dedication, as well as an ability to self-study (as you have to do more of in college than in high school). “In the slightest,” yes, it would help, although if it would be helpful enough to be considered a “hook,” I don’t know.</p>
<p>It would help definitely, but I don’t know that it would help get you in if you’d otherwise be denied.</p>
<p>Basically, it’ll make you more likely to be accepted, but won’t make up for a weak application.</p>
<p>hook? No. Interesting, yes. But a ‘hooked’ applicant is someone for whom schools actively search.</p>
<p>it’s not really a “hook”, but is does show commitment and would help your application.</p>
<p>You’ve gotten some very optimistic replies.</p>
<p>Basically self studying something is not different from making a determined effort to read everything Hemingway wrote, or something similar. So the short answer is “no”.</p>
<p>Where self studying makes a difference is when you do something significant with what you’ve studied. In the news this week is the Intel Science Competition. Here the application of self study is a science/math project, which is submitted to an organization that vets it.</p>
<p>Perhaps your school formalizes independent study in some way, so it’s like a class and you would work with an adviser on your independent project. If so, apply your language study to something literary written in the language, or something that you write at a reasonably high standard. The independent study effort would then appear in your school record, and you may be able to get a recommendation from the teacher/advisor.</p>
<p>Otherwise self study because it’s something that interests you. And becoming more interesting is one thing we should all strive to do, at all points in life.</p>
<p>I’ve taught myself a number of languages with the help of books and tapes. There is only so far you can go via the self-teaching route. In my experience, it’s not that hard to acquire a decent reading knowledge on your own, and if you’re seriously interested in literature it is great to be able to read it–even very slowly–in the original language. And reading knowledge of any of the Romance languages will improve your English vocabulary and your grasp of grammar. But oral fluency requires lots of conversational practice with native speakers before you will be processing the language at the necessary speed.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you’re interested in Esperanto, which has never developed into the universal language it was designed to be, and therefore isn’t nearly as useful as Spanish or French. For both languages, the best self-teaching tools I’m aware of are the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) courses. They were originally designed for US State Department workers, and are very rigorous and effective. After working through the first two-and-a-half volumes of the FSI course (it is a total of 4 volumes), I was able to place out of a university language requirement in Spanish–the equivalent of two years of college work or four years of high school work. But I was nowhere near really fluent in Spanish. My friends who teach Romance languages at the college level say that three years of study at the university level makes for a comfortable level of intermediate proficiency.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d concentrate on one language, go as far as you can with it, and then try to arrange some immersion experience, e.g. in Latin America or in France or Canada. Just saying that you’ve studied the language on your own is not going to blow Ivy admissions committees away; you will need some “external” proof of your proficiency. Perhaps you might take the Subject Test in “your” language.</p>
<p>While the United States is something of a backwater in terms of foreign language skills, you can bet that most immigrants and international students speak at least 2 or 3 languages quite well – and I doubt that it gives them an edge in college admissions. </p>
<p>Unless you go over the top and learn 8 languages, get 5’s on the AP tests in 4 or more very different languages, or learn UN-level simultaneous translation skills, I think knowing 2-3 languages is far too common worldwide to impress ad coms. Heck, I’ve been to several 3rd World countries where unschooled 10-year-olds can hold their own in 3 or 4 languages as they follow you around the streets trying to sell you something!</p>
<p>Just self-studying a language isn’t, by itself, going to do much for you, though it is a bit unusual. If you are learning a language because you have a passion for the culture, the history, the art, music, cuisine, literature or poetry, then it starts to sound interesting. As an interviewer for my university, I would definitely want to explore what lead you to chose that language, and what you hoped to accomplish by learning it. I’d be looking for evidence of intellectual curiousity and creativity and I’d expect you to know more about the cultures that speak that language than how to conjugate verbs.</p>
<p>No, it is not a “hook”.</p>
<p>As others have stated, self-studying a language isn’t going to automatically improve your chances at top universities. However, if you can build a convincing application around your passion for linguistics, substantiated by test scores (SAT II’s in Spanish, French, etc.), demonstrated depth in extracurriculars (Spanish club, teaching Spanish, etc.), and essays that convey this passion, I can say that you will have a very unique application. Someone earlier posted that international students might already speak 2 or 3 languages, which yes, is impressive, but there is a definite difference between being immersed in a language from a young age and learning it completely from scratch without any outside instruction. This is assuming that you will have good standardized test scores, solid GPA/class rank, and difficult course load. </p>
<p>I was in a similar (sort-of) situation like you a couple months ago. I love Spanish and while I’m in AP Spanish right now, I do a lot of outside studying to improve my fluency, reading, and writing skills. I also teach Spanish to kids at both an elementary school and the Boys & Girls Club, and I absolutely love it! I figured that this EC wouldn’t have much merit to admissions counselors so I took the January SAT II in Spanish and got a 770, so I think that conveyed my dedication to the subject. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think it will help considerably within the context of an otherwise strong application. I also agree that the extent to which you pursue that interest through correlated activities will be just as important in terms of conveying the depth of your passion for the subject. If you put together something really unique around your acquisition of self-learned language skills it is possible that it could overcome some other minor deficiencies for some Adcoms. Thus, unless you are simply gifted with languages, I think it would be best to really focus on a very high level of proficiency in one for right now rather than multiple ones. Lastly, I believe pursuing one of the identified “Critical” languages such as Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Korean, etc., would be of greater interest to admissions than Spanish or French where student proficiency out of H.S. tends to be much more common.</p>