Hi everyone. I have been taking Spanish since my freshman year, and I am thinking about dropping my Spanish class before the 2nd semester of my senior year begins. I want to replace it with a graphic design course. However, the problem is, I would have to notify all the colleges of this change, and I applied to a lot of the top schools like Stanford and etc. Thus, I’m wondering if this notification would negatively impact my college admissions. I really dislike the Spanish class this year, and if the college admissions weren’t a problem, I would have dropped the class.
Note: I have basically completed the first semester of Spanish, and I am at an A.
If you started in Spanish 1 in 9th grade, then dropping Spanish now would leave you at level 3.5… and some colleges prefer to see completion of at least level 4. Graphic design may not seem as academic to college admission readers as completing Spanish 4 (or higher).
Hi, thanks for the quick response! I’m currently in Spanish 4. Although I understand Graphic Design isn’t as rigorous as Spanish 4, I really dislike how Spanish 4 is going right now. It’s not a fun class, and I would consider it my most difficult class. However, the problem is that I’m putting in a lot of time/work for the class that I don’t think is worth it. Instead, I would rather take a class I’m interest in (Graphic Design) and put more time and energy into the place I’m interning at.
That is good that you kept your grade up, even though Spanish has been harder and more time consuming. It is too bad you are not enjoying the class. My advice is to get through the last 4 months and take an EdX/Coursera class in graphic design.
I don’t think it’s a showstopper decision. Stanford suggests, “three or more years of the same foreign language.” And as a stem kid, foreign language is often the course that moves out of the way for another academic opportunity.
No, it’s not like you need room in your schedule for higher math. Nor is graphic design exactly anacademic class.
But they might even think this is an interesting swap. You have 3.5 years of Spanish, a related art internship (?) and could make it look legit, not irrelevant to CS, and a sign of curiosity. What’s your GC say?
Hi. My internship is focused on marketing (YouTube, photoshop, etc) and programming. Also, I’m even considering swapping for a more CS oriented class like data science with Python or etc.
Does not sound like a showstopper , and when you applied (at that time) you were planning to take Spanish again, so big deal it changed. If you’re a senior, many schools don’t give a lot of weight to grades this year anyway (edit: I mean if you don’t go way down obviously, just staying the course is expected). I would drop it and do something to enhance your marketing without a second hesitation. I work in IS with a master’s and think I’d much rather hear that in an interview than that you finished an extra semester of Spanish. (I also had 5+ years of spanish and dropped it like it was hot when I went off to school, banked 8 credits and never looked back. I’m semi -fluent still if I need it.
Good luck , you’ll be fine either way. I’d vote graphic design if you just want an IT guy’s opinion. You could also run it by the admissions persom from Stanford, who I bet will tell you to do whichever you like (and may tell you that it likely won’t matter as they consider so many other factors in their decision.)
No, absolutely not. You will have to notify all the places you applied to that you dropped Spanish, which can be a handful depending on how many places you applied to.
Such highly-selective colleges like Stanford want to see that you took the most rigorous courses in high school. Think of it this way: you and Billy went to different high schools and are both applying to Stanford. You both took the same or similar courses, have similar extracurricular activities, and the same major. Billy sits at a 4.3 weighted GPA/3.8 unweighted GPA while you’re at a 4.35 weighted and a 4.0 unweighted. You are ranked 1/500 and Billy is ranked 1/120. Here is the catch: Billy took that last semester of Spanish while you did not. Who will they pick? Answer is most likely Billy. Why? Stanford admissions feel as if Billy would be a better fit because he took that last semester of Spanish, meaning he is more dedicated to a certain subject.
I understand that Spanish may not be your favorite subject, but you only have one more semester. You have to stick with it.
Lol, you do get some free choice. And it seems OP can make graphic design make sense. It’s not like kids who drop FL for some dubious elective or a class way out of his track. Or study hall or to go home earlier.
Don’t drop it, especially if you are applying to top schools. Most want 4 yrs. You will raise flags if you have to go back and tell them. take graphic design in addition not instead of.
After reading some of our peers here, I’ll modify my response too. I definitely think you should ask some of the schools you’re most interested in what they recommend, admissions counselors will tell you the skinny. And I was thinking more of the extra year as a senior as a bonus because you like the language, not as a core - when I was in school and with my own kids too, they were in Spanish 2 as freshmen, so a senior year was Spanish 5 if you went that long and that’s overkill in my opinion, however I did get a weighted grade for that last year way back then. If you’re targeting a lot of schools, this is more complex as well, as you said - many to notify, not just one or two.
(I interview and mentor undergrads a lot and that probably shapes my response - employment and job interviews/resumes are not the same as colleges. I think as an employer we would be very in favor of you adding the subject that is closer to your major.)
Yes. Regardless of whether this is the case for you, notifying all colleges of a drop (surprised your school allows) this late in the game would be uncommon. I think there is a higher likelihood this will be perceived as neutral/negative and not neutral/positive. Communicate something positive with admissions at this point, and not that you did not think through your schedule and quit Spanish 2nd 1/2 of the year. This has nothing to do with whether a college prefers 3 or 4 years of a language because 3 is probably fine. It is about who you are and how you will be perceived. And you can definitely say you dropped a language to pursue a passion, but your explanation here does not pass the smell test IMO. It seems that you want to drop Spanish because it is hard and takes a lot of time. Maybe colleges won’t care enough to get to the bottom of things, but I would not like the noise if I was your reader.
Mid January is not late in the game to update colleges. And technically, an applicant IS supposed to inform the target colleges of changes in the curriculum. Someone can go look at the Common App, what it says.
Nor is OP going to tell them he didn’t “think through” his schedule. And in this day and age, sending out multiple emails isn’t some crazy challenge. One carefully worded explanation, sent to multiple addresses. Basic computer literacy.
It’s not about “passion” being needed, either. It just has to make sense to the reviewers- and imo, done right, it can. There are connections between CS and graphic design.
Why so many want you to stick with Spanish? Boils down to little more than opinions. And some fear. The irony is so many kids misunderstand what’s a legit choice. We’ve seen this on CC. They “want” to take some random class- maybe CNA training or balancing your checkbook or pet therapy (courses not even offered in the academic track. They’re often geared toward kids not planning on college)…and expect a tippy top to be impressed.
Good luck, @VectorctOS. See what the GC says, they’ll have a better perspective. Then make the decision you are most comfortable with.
Hi. The thing is, my school isn’t in the 2nd semester yet. In fact, we’re still in the 1st semester. So a drop wouldn’t appear on my schedule at all. It would just be through a notification to colleges.