Hello,
I speak three languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, and Korean.
I’m in high school speech and debate (but I’m not a captain and don’t have an executive position).
I have already taken the Korean SAT and got 800/800, and I’m planning on starting a Korean club and taking AP Chinese as a junior.
I was wondering if trilingualism is something that will help with college admissions.
Thanks.
It might depend on the school, but I’d say yes. As one example, U.S. News profiled a trilingual student with a 3.2 GPA (26 ACT) who was admitted to Middlebury.
I’d say Middlebury is an outlier, though. For the most part, I don’t think many other colleges are going “Oooooh, multilingual. Let’s admit.” Remember, most educated people outside English-speaking countries are multilingual. It is just not “all that and a bag of chips.” Also be aware that a strong score on an AP exam or SAT Subject Test is hardly an indication of proficiency, as these test to the intermediate-low level of proficiency.
Now if you spent your spare time volunteering with recent Chinese/Korean immigrants, that might make a more interesting story.
But! You be you. Get involved with activities that are interesting to you. Like @skieurope says, see if you can put your trilinguilism to work in helping others in the community. Colleges want to think about how you will get involved in the college/community if you attended.