<p>So I decided to take only 1 year of Spanish and will graduate will only 1 year unless I change up my senior schedule. How much will this impact my chances at top colleges? Specifically looking at Swarthmore, emory, northwestern. My high school does not require any student to take any year of foreign language if they really don't want to but obviously 99.999% of the students take at least 2 years (wouldn't be surprised if I was the only student planning on only 1 year). I've checked the common data set and officially the colleges listed above do not REQUIRE any years but do recommend usually 3+ my brother is actually going to Swarthmore right now and he only took 2 years of foreign language so I was hoping that they would just look as 1 year and 2 year as about the same. I've also called emorys admission office to double check that they do not require 2 years. I'm a bit apprehensive that all the work I put into sat and other stuff would go to waste because of only 1 year in foreign language</p>
<p>Take another year of foreign language ASAP!!! :)</p>
<p>I think you’ll be at a significant disadvantage when they compare your transcript to those of other applicants.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Emory and Northwestern can all fill their freshman classes several times over with students who’ve met or exceeded their recommendations for foreign-language study. In order for one of those institutions to choose you instead of one of those other really good candidates who have taken 3 or more credits in foreign language, you’d have to bring something quite remarkable to the table. What do you suppose that would be?</p>
<p>My high school recommends two years of foreign language and it is a requirement to graduate. I’d say take another year of foreign language!</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think you have to. Though it certainly is safer taking it, I doubt it will make a massive difference unless you plan on majoring in something that requires knowledge of a foreign language. This last admissions cycle, I was admitted into several places that recommended 3 or 4 years of foreign language with only two years of German. Heck, I got accepted into Claremont McKenna, which * requires * 3 or more years of a foreign language, with a scholarship.</p>
<p>Well my specs are not outstanding but my reasoning for not taking another year of foreign language was to shove more ap classes in my schedule, and I guess I’m a bit distinct in that I will total 15 ap classes by senior year (counting macroeconomic and government as separate ap). Should I ask my Counselor to include my reasoning in her recommendation? Also I’m Korean so I do have a second language that I am extremely fluent in. What I’m really curious about is if the difference between taking 1 year and taking 2 year is a huge gap for a college that recommends 3 years, since both 1 and 2 year is less than 3</p>
<p>Not only most high schools requires 2 years of foreign language to graduate, most colleges REQUIRE 2 years of foreign languages to apply. With only 1 year, you are definitely limiting your chance even if you may graduate from your high school. Course requirement are quite rigid for admission. Some colleges even recommend (though not require) 4 years of foreign language.</p>
<p>It is possible to graduate from my kids’ fairly well regarded high school in a well regarded public school system without taking any foreign language. </p>
<p>I absolutely believe that if Neolucid were in danger of not graduating, his (or her) guidance counselor would have addressed the matter with him (or her) already. I’m not worried about high school graduation.</p>
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<p>This, I am afraid, was a very bad strategy. Despite Adodie’s success story, above, selective colleges and universities are deluged with applications every year from students who’ve taken a jillion APs. Neglecting one area of your high school preparation in order to do what a lot of other people have also done won’t make you an outstanding applicant. In fact, most of those kids with a jillion APs have one (or more) of them in a foreign language.</p>
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<p>But this makes a world of difference. If you are already fluent in a language besides English, and you can demonstrate that you are, then most colleges won’t mind that you haven’t taken three or four years of Spanish in high school.</p>
<p>I think you’re probably all right, Neolucid. But I think the APs-instead-of-language strategy would be a sure loser for a student who wasn’t already bilingual.</p>
<p>Alright I’m much more relived by the comments. Also I’m very aware of the fact that many colleges REQUIRE 2 or more years of foreign language, which are usually like state colleges but I’ve made sure that the colleges I really would like to attend merely recommends. Should I make the Counselor note that I am bilingual or is there a section on the common app that has those type of info?</p>