Keep 3rd Year of Spanish or drop it?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi, I'm new to this forum and stumbled here while seeking some information of others who may have been in my shoes. </p>

<p>Here's the situation. I am currently a senior in high school and have the following classes:</p>

<p>Spanish 5-6 (3rd year Spanish)
AP Physics
AP Calculus BC
AP Government
AP Eng Lit and Comp
AP Biology</p>

<p>I had originally intended to take AP Chemistry instead of Biology. Of all the sciences, I tend to lean towards chemistry. The only problem was Spanish. Due to scheduling issues, they couldn't fit 3rd year Spanish and AP Chem together in my schedule. And the counselor would not let me drop Spanish saying that UC's really look for the recommended 3 years.</p>

<p>My GPA is about a 4.3 and I am ranked number 10 in my class the last time I checked which was a few months ago. My SAT score was not too good at 1850, but I plan on retaking it after my SAT Subject Tests in October. My plans are to apply to UCLA or Berkeley or USC. So do you suggest that I should drop Spanish and take Chem in its place? I understand that's a total of 6 AP classes, but I certainly can manage so far. Basically how important is that third year of foreign language?</p>

2

<p>Most selective schools require 3 years of a foreign language, and some recommend four.</p>

<p>Your GC is giving you very good advice. There is no real advantage in taking 2 AP lab science courses in the same year unless you’ve met your core course requirements.</p>

3

<p>My suggestion is to go over to the UC Berkeley section of this webisite and ask the question there… <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yours is a very UCB and UCLA specific question. I don’t think USC will care… though they have demonstrated they are SAT-focused, so retaking the SAT and doing well will matter a lot to USC.</p>