Im currently a sophomore in highschool and taking honors latin 2. I have so far taken 2 years of a foreign langauige, but for next year I want to quit out after 2 years of a foreign langauge to double on AP science instead. Although most colleges want 3/4 years of a langauge or more, especailly ivys. My first chouce school, though, is MIT for computer science and I dont think they care about foreign language?
Will i still be at a disadvantage for Ivys or MIT or any top colleges if I only take 2 years of a foreign langauge?
Or, could I take the SAT for latin and get a passing score on it to replace taking the class.
Or should I stay in latin?
Take a look at the admissions requirements for each of the colleges on your list. Some recommend 3 or more years in the same language. Then you can make an informed decision on what to do.
Yeah a lot of them reccomend 3 or 4 but I just feel that AP Chemistry might look better than Latin 3, because for MIT, going for computer science, they probably dont care about foreign langauge versus sciences
you have no other class periods to double up with science? When my son looked at Princeton, the requirement was 4 years of the same language…not sure if that has changed.
Well I might be able to double science and take latin if I drop AP Econ but do you think that a tech school like MIT or Cangegie Mellon will actually care about me taking 2 more years of a dead langauge
Yes, you will be at a disadvantage at many schools. Look at the websites of college you are interested in. But you need to pay attention to what your match schools want, not just reach schools. Stay in it for at least one more year.
Many of the other schools with selectivity comparable to MIT would like to see level 3 or 4 in high school foreign language. Also, some of them have foreign language graduation requirements that are very likely to require higher than high school level 2 (which may not necessarily place you higher than the beginner level course in college).
MIT has an 8% acceptance rate, so no student should make their course selections based upon MIT’s requirements. If your other colleges request/require 3+ years, you can be sure that most of the applicants will have that preparation.
No, but those colleges that ask for 3+ years do care. You should assume that many applicants with an orientation toward STEM would love nothing more than to fill their entire schedule with math and science courses, but they don’t since many colleges expect a more well-balanced preparation.