It seems selective colleges expect 3 or 4 years of a foreign language, but my school only offers 2 years of Latin or Spanish. I cannot even get into Spanish until I’m a junior. Should I try to take all the foreign language classes my school offers? I can start Latin in 10th grade. What do you recommend? My dream is to go to Stanford, Harvard, etc. Thanks.
Take 2 years. When your counselor does the school report it will be noted. My daughter had the same issue with Chinese. She did fine.
Alternatively see if you can take it online, through a neighboring same district HS or a CC.
Also if u just have two years note it’s in the common app where it asks is there anything additional to tell us. Just say I took what was offered.
They know
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That’s good to know. Thank you.
Do you think taking all the classes would be impressive?
Adjust your dreams, because no matter how good your record is, both are random in their admits. There are 24,000 high schools in the US. That means there will be at least that many Valedictorians and Salutatorians. They almost all want to go to Stanford and Harvard. With 3400 seats between the two, 40,000+ will get the thin letter. That’s limiting it to class rank #1 and #2. I’m not trying to be a downer. I’m trying to give you perspective. The odds are stacked against ALL students. Know this and don’t get too attached.
As for the languages, if you want to apply to Stanford, you need 3 years of the same foreign language. If you choose Spanish, you won’t make the 3 years. If you choose Latin, you’d have to finish at a community college, and some colleges don’t like CC courses. You need to ask the advice of your HS counselor and ask what students who’ve gone before you did to meet the requirements.
Good luck!
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Are you at a small private school? Is there a better public high school that you could choose to attend? The younger you are, the easier it is to learn a foreign language, so it’s absurd to limit beginning Spanish until 11th grade.
I’m assuming that your high school has you do 2 yrs of Latin, beginning in 9th, and then 2 yrs Spanish beginning in 11th. You could ask to be allowed to do the 2 yrs of Spanish beginning in 9th, then take 3rd yr Spanish (which is the level of AP) at a nearby 4 yr public college.
No. In regards to stats eyemgh is right. Your top 15 -20 are dreams. Get excited. Don’t fall in love. Never get attached to any school. Btw. Have you seen their cost ? Have you visited to know you’d like? Find the right school. Not the one you perceive is best.
If you will major in science take more AP science.
If you want the best answers to your question, contact the schools and ask for an admission counselor. Some will zoom. It will help you understand the path to take. It will not be held against you. You are not the only one in this boat. In my daughters case she had Chinese 1-2. 3 was cancelled due to lack of interest. She got turned down at Rice, UNC OOS and waitlisted at Emory and W & M. I doubt language was why she didn’t get in those four but we’ll never know.
You raise a question that you should ask.
If you lack comfort calling your dreams call alternatives like Princeton or Duke. They likely handle these situations similarly.
To me it’s similar to the kid with 8 APs but the school offered a lot. The kid who took the only 4 that school offered often does better admission wise.
Good luck
Thank you! Our small public high school does have some kids who go to very selective schools. I’ll ask our guidance counselor what they did.
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That’s a great idea. I’ll contact some of the college admission offices and ask.
If that’s all you school offers, you will not be “cut” for taking only 2 but you’ll be compared to others who may have shown initiative to meet that college entrance requirement so I’d say it’s far from clear cut.
An issue is that HS graduation requirements are different from selective college entrance requirements-and then many colleges have their own graduation requirements so you can get a degree. The fewer FL classes you took in HS, the more you have to take in college, where they are usually extremely time-intensive and fast paced (for instance, 2 years of HS FL is typically covered in one semester, ie., 4 months.)
An option would be to take Spanish 1&2 as a 9th and 10th grader or a 10th and 11th grader, if your GC allows you to, then over one year community college Spanish 2&3 which cover HS levels 3&4.
If you can take Latin as a “taster” for a romance language with conjugations and noun genders, it’d be best taken as a 9th grader.
Fibally, regardless of what you decide or your GC allows you to do, it’d be imperative to have it noted your school only offers 2 levels of Spanish and 2 possible levels of Latin, with the traditional path starting in the 11th grade…
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I would enroll in Latin 10th grade, but keep in mind that no college can expect 3-4 years of foreign language from a student whose school offers 2 years max. I would look to see if a local CC offers dual enrollment classes, but don’t fret. After all, it’s not the most important component of your app.