I am a bit confused as to how the competency requirement works.
If I already took three years of Spanish in high school, and I choose to start with Spanish 101 anyways to get better grades how many total quarters of Spanish will I have to take to pass the requirement as opposed to if I would start at a higher level. For example, would I only have to take one quarter of Spanish if I place highly vs needing to take 4 quarters if I start at the beginning?
Thanks so much
You should definitely take the Spanish placement exam (placement exams should be available online beginning tomorrow and need to be completed by 7/28 or thereabouts).
The competency standard is something like the equivalent of one year of college-level study; however, if you can place out of entry (and desire to do so) in your subject language that will shorten the number of additional courses you need to take to satisfy competency.
Just to be clear: you don’t need to take 4 quarters of Spanish (or any language). Even if you start a completely new language, you’ll only need 3 quarters, unless you plan to fail a class. The year is split into 4 quarters, but UChicago strongly discourages taking summer classes unless that’s the only way you’ll graduate on time.
You’ll be busy enough, and then some, during the academic year. I loved my first year, but when you get to 9th week and have 500 pages of dense reading to complete by Friday, you’ll want a break too.
As for taking an intro class for better grades, here are my thoughts. The ratio of classes/COA is roughly $6,000. The median grade at UChicago isn’t an A-, but mild grade inflation is alive and well here - especially in non-STEM courses - so you’ll likely be fine in an appropriate-level class. Of course, if you still want to spend $6,000 to twiddle your thumbs for 10 weeks in hopes of avoiding an A- (or, horror of horrors, a B+), more power to you. Or something.