Only two years of foreign language?

[Rickfoop]

<p>Although I did take Spanish I in 8th grade, I've only taken two years of Spanish at my highschool (mainly due to me hating the subject and having a horrible spanish department at my highschool) . Do you think that this will be a significant disadvantage for me for top schools such as Yale, Duke, Cornell, etc.?</p>

[BuBBLES_FoR_SALE]

<p>I dont think it makes that much of a difference as long as your grades are fine.</p>

[Catria]

<p>It depends on the foreign language requirement for your school. If it requires 2 years of foreign languages you’re just fine, but if it requires 3 or more, you’re in a poor position to apply there.</p>

[GolfFather]

<p>^^^^ Yeah, it depends.</p>

<p>And, if you hated Spanish and your hs has a “horrible spanish department,” why did you take two years of Spanish?</p>

<p>:confused:</p>

<p>Take French instead.</p>

[redpoint]

<p>It will be noted by the admissions team, surely, and they will have to understand it, and your other qualifications will have to make up for the deficit, but it’s not means for disqualification. If you can’t change it now, no reason to worry because there’s nothing you can do. . . Unless you still have time to change.</p>

[Sikorsky]

<p>I’m sorry, Rick, but I do think it will put you at a real disadvantage at those incredibly selective universities. See, for example, what Harvard says about foreign-language preparation on its web site:</p>

<p>

**Foreign Language
**
You should leave secondary school knowing at least one foreign language well enough to read it easily and pronounce it acceptably. Knowing a foreign language enables you to enter another culture and to understand its ideas and its values. A fundamental aspect of language-learning must be a grasp of vocabulary and syntax that allows you to read novels, plays, poems, and magazines, with as much of a native speaker’s comprehension as possible. We have found that students who have mastered a foreign language before they come to Harvard take more language courses here than those who have not. Indeed, these students often embark on the study of languages not commonly taught in American secondary schools.</p>

<p>Many secondary school students take a smattering of several languages – for example, Latin for two years, French for a year, and Spanish for a year. When it is too late, they realize that they cannot read or speak any of these languages well. We urge you to try to study at least one foreign language and its literature for four years. Continuity of study is important, too, because a “year off” from a language can be a real setback. Once you are comfortably fluent, you will possess that language – and better appreciate the culture it has shaped – for the rest of your life.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html#language[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html#language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That’s what they’re looking for. That doesn’t sound like you. </p>

<p>Is it a deficit? I think so. Is it fatal to your chances? We may never really know. If you get in, obviously not. If you don’t get in, however, we’ll never know whether it was foreign language, or something else, or simply the limited number of beds in the freshman dorms that kept you out.</p>

[ArtsyGirl13]

<p>Like OP said it will put you at a major disadvantage. You want to apply to some of the top schools in the country, they expect four years in one language and it will lo bad for your transcript to have two years. Stick with Spanish for the rest of high school.</p>