I have a very spanish name, and I’m fluent in spanish, and I’m taking ap spanish for my language. Will UC schools (especially UCLA) know that I’m a native spanish speaker taking spanish, or is my name and background confidential in admission process? And would that look less rigorous?
Here is the rest of my schedule:
Regular English 3 (A)
Regular Precalculus (A)
AP Spanish Language (A)
AP Biology (A)
Regular History 3 (A)
Regular Economics (A)
Not all hispanics/latinas are fluent in spanish so I don’t think any assumptions could be made.
I agee with doschicos. Niece and nephew are native speakers - but needed advanced classes to learn to write properly, deal with accent and idiom issues and get exposure to the culture and literature. And lots of people with Spanish surnames and ‘backgrounds’ don’t speak Spanish at all, so no assumptions are made (but no, the information is not confidential - they see your name and any background information that you provided.)
I agree with both comments above. There is a difference between knowing how to speak a language and knowing how to write/read it. Many Chinese-American students can speak Chinese but can’t read it.
But in this case, the OP is fluent in Spanish, by his/her own admission That means whether it looks less rigorous or not - it is. If teacher/counselor recs include a statement of whether it’s the most rigorous courseload - they couldn’t honestly say it is, in the circumstances. OTOH it’s too late to start on getting to that level with another language now, so you’ll just have you live with it.
Hmm. I see on other threads OP claims to be of Pakistani origin, and in one Kazakh. So: are you by any chance trying to avoid checking the Asian box on applications and claim URM status instead?
Depending on the school district, there often can be separate sections of AP Spanish for native/heritage speakers and students for students who learned it in school. Speaking the language does not automatically mean that a person can also read and write it, and speaking a language at home does not automatically mean that a person has developed the same vocabulary set that is expected in an AP course.
My advice would be that the OP not worry about how this looks on a college application, but rather concentrating on nailing the AP exam to maximize the chance to get credit for that score.
I interpreted it as s/he speaks Spanish fluently. That said, I know many kids who grow up in Spanish speaking homes who do not always speak with grammatical correctness, much less know how write proficiently. If s/he is fluent in reading/writing/listening/speaking, s/he can correct my assumption. 
Very valid point.
In another thread you said you’re Asian, but you were born in CA and your parents are from Kazakhstan. Is Spanish the language your parents speak at home? If not, I don’t think colleges will consider you a “native Spanish speaker.” If you leave the race/ethnicity part of the application blank, I don’t think adcoms will assume you’re Hispanic, but if you’re worried that they won’t count the 7 years of Spanish that you took in MS/HS because your name sounds Spanish, take French 3 your senior year. Or take French 3 at a local community college over the summer and French 4 as a senior.
“I have a very spanish name, and I’m fluent in spanish”
OP did not claim to be hispanic, nor did he state that he’d be checking that box on the common application. He simply wondered if adcoms would assume him to be fluent in Spanish because of his Spanish name - regardless of his race.
It’s counterproductive to sit here going through the post history of people we don’t know in an attempt to police them. Let’s just answer the question as stated here and trust that OP will not be dishonest on official application materials - or that if he isn’t the repercussions will be his to face.
@GetAHandle, I see that you’re brand new here. Welcome.
We sometimes read past posts to get a clearer picture of what a poster’s situation is so that we can be more helpful. It’s not an attempt to “police” them.
OP’s concern seems to be that adcoms won’t accept her foreign language credits if they assume from her Spanish sounding name that she’s a “native Spanish speaker.” If she completes the race/ethnicity part of the application and chooses Asian, I don’t think colleges will assume she’s also Hispanic just because her name sounds Spanish. But even if she leaves the race/ethnicity question blank, I don’t think she has to worry that colleges will assume she’s Spanish and not accept her credit. Not all Hispanics are fluent in Spanish, so even if they assumed she was Hispanic they wouldn’t assume that means her family speaks Spanish at home.
I hope she doesn’t lie on her application. Colleges can rescind acceptances and revoke diplomas if students do that. It wouldn’t help at CA colleges anyway. [CA Proposition 209](http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-08-20/california-consequences-what-if-high-court-bans-race) forbids CA colleges from considering race or ethnicity when reviewing applications.
It doesn’t matter if the OP is a native speaker. They’ll look at one AP class grade. So it’s not really one class that will make it for the OP.
Trying to get in as an URM won’t help. It is a game now, to get in as Hispanic, since every student who blinks, is going back centuries to “rediscover” their Spanish//moorish ancestry to try to gain an URM advantage. What I’ve heard is that zips help when URMs go to predominantly URM schools.
@austinmshauri I am lol, my friend just wanted to use my account to know for herself
@shana1, You can probably see why sharing accounts isn’t allowed. It makes things more confusing. You could say, “my friend wants to know,” but don’t allow your friends to use your ID.
@austinmshauri i didn’t let her even use my account, i just asked the question on my account. people should answer the question based on the current forum, not previous forums.
@Shana1, It doesn’t work that way. Sometimes people post important details in one thread that materially effect the advice posters give. Posters who are new to college admissions may not even realize that the detail was important. You’ll get clearer, faster replies if you start posts like this with, “A friend wants to know…” It’s not ideal because both the question and answer are going through others, but it will save you time.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. I’m not sure that there is anything else to add and the fact the the OP is posting for a friend has really confused the whole issue and caused it to go off topic.