I am a senior year in high school and I am only taking 2 years of foreign language (Spanish) in my high school career. I did originally intend to take Spanish 3, but due to scheduling issues it was impossible for me to take Spanish 3. Will colleges look negatively at the fact that I am not taking a third year of language even though it was not my fault that I could not take it?
Because I am not taking Spanish 3, I have however been able to take 7 math courses in my high school career. Does that all make up for the fact that I only have 2 years of language??
You should check the recommended/required HS classes for colleges you plan to apply to – this can be found online. Competitive colleges generally want to see HS students succeed at a high level in a diverse array of academic classes. For that reason the extra math classes do not compensate for not taking the level of language a college is looking for. If there truly was a dueling conflict ask your guidance counselor to address it in his/her letter of recommendation. Note that making a decision to take extra math classes at the expense of foreign language is a choice and not a scheduling conflict.
Some schools are more flexible and the admissions requirements are just recommendations. Others may admit you conditionally, and you’ll have to take foreign language as a college freshman to keep your admission. Others will reject you. When in doubt, ask the college.
It shouldn’t be held against you if the class is just not available at your high school (versus, say a schedule preference for a seventh math class). Will your counselor letter back you up that Spanish 3 was not available to you?
It is not convincing that you can only take up to Spanish 2 in 4 years of high school due to schedule conflict. You should have finished level 2 before junior year. Then you would have many options in case of conflict. Obviously, the schedule conflict is due to your priority as you can have 7 Math courses. At the end, the adcom will view you as an applicant with only 2 years of FL which is fine for most schools. Most of the top schools would recommend 3 or 4 years though.
What colleges are you applying to?
Any way you can take college Spanish 2 at a community college (equivalent to HS Spanish3)?
If you prioritized a non core class (such as AP stats or APES ) over a core class like Spanish 3, the fact you have seven math classes won’t offset a course deficiency, unless you reached prodigy level in math.
Also, it depends on the college. Universities like UNC Charlotte, UToledo, UMN Duluth, MUST, UWyoming, NAU, CSU San Marcos will be okay with two years.
Is there still time to switch and drop a math class and add Spanish 3? That really would be the best thing to do if it is possible. Overloading on math isn’t necessary.
You get to a point where it’s the actual upper level math classes that matter, not the “count.” (Especially for EECS.) So what have you taken besides the usual foundations? If you’re in true advanced college math right now (probably DE,) and some budding math genius, it’s sometimes ok to miss a language level based on sched conflicts. But from your other posts, I can’t tell what you’ve taken that excuses missing a 3rd year. And if one of the fillers was stats, that also won’t cut it.
And don’t forget the importance of the highest levels of physics, chem and bio. I don’t think you’re looking at this holistically. That’s a risk.