I am an upcoming freshman and we have to pick our courses for our high school soon. The reason I posted this is that orchestra and Spanish take up a lot of space. I’ve been doing orchestra for three years in middle school so I feel very hesitant to drop it. For Spanish, I’ve heard that taking Spanish for only two years can hurt your applicant. which is why I was also hesitant to drop the course. If I don’t drop any of these, I can’t really do any other courses than the required ones (math, social studies, English,). So I can’t even take my computer science class which I really wanted to. Any ideas on what to do?
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Don’t drop Spanish or any core course for an elective. Take computer science in a later year.
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You’re just a rising freshman—there is no need to feel pressured to take computer science earlier in high school. Usually, for most, freshman year is when students take on a less demanding, ‘diverse’ selection of courses. So unless there is some exigent need to take computer science in 9th grade, I’d advise against dropping either of the courses.
Besides, colleges don’t require but strongly recommend that you take 3-4 years of a foreign language, so taking Spanish in 9th grade (and beyond, if you feel up to it), is pretty substantial.
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Don’t take a lunch. Take orchestra during lunch, and bring your lunch with you (the orchestra teacher will surely let you eat during the first 5 minutes of orchestra). Same would go for Spanish if orchestra is not held during a lunch period.
This is what my kids did all through high school. Because they took every year English, Math, History, Science, Foreign Language, required gym/health, jazz band, which was 7 of the 8 class periods, they always took another elective in place of lunch. The band teacher would let them eat at the beginning of band class, knowing that a lot of his players took 8 classes and no lunch.
If you’re any good at orchestra, and enjoy it, and enjoy playing with your classmates, keep going with it. Keep the Spanish, since you will need 3-4 years of high school foreign language for competitive colleges. If you HAVE to drop something, and are not that good in orchestra, and don’t take lessons, and don’t think you’d ever play at college, then that would be the one to drop.
I’m just decent at orchestra but a little on the good side I guess? (last year I was 14th chair). I do take violin lessons though. I’m not sure if my school allows that.
Does middle school Spanish 1 count as one of the three years? Since I can take Spanish 2 in freshmen and Spanish 3 in sophomore? My classes in a sophomore year would look like this if I don’t drop any. AP Calc BC, 10 English Honors, Spanish 3, Symphony Orchestra, GBBE (Genetics, Bacteriology, Biotechnology, and Embryology), and American History. You see, I want to take double science in my sophomore year too 
Even though I want to major in CS, my mom said I should at least to Biology AP so that it would be easier to switch my career if I really wanted to (dreams can change). I also want to take two AP’s in my sophomore year
I think it kind of depends on the school, but in most schools (including mine) all foreign language classes—irregardless of level—count towards HS credit, although the amount of weight given would likely vary. (Anecdotally, I took Spanish 1 in 7th grade and finished Spanish 4 in 10th grade. Spanish 1 and 2 were weighed as on-level while Spanish 3 and 4 were given honors weight.)
Is it imperative that you continue with symphony orchestra in 10th grade, especially considering that you will already have taken orchestra in 9th grade?
My daughter’s college doesn’t accept credit for languages taken in middle school (university of Delaware).
I would stick with both music and Spanish next year and then decide in the future if you want to continue. CS as a freshman is not that important.
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The school my kids go to do not allow a student to drop lunch so this is not an option at all schools. We are only allowed to not schedule a study hall.
My son has the same issues as he takes band, choir and a foreign language. He had no time for other electives frosh and soph years. He has taken classes in the summer at the school. Hes take take more electives junior and senior years if he wishes.
I would keep orchestra and foreign language for frosh year. Im sure that computer science course is open to all grades and you can do it at a later date. My son agrees that high school band was nothing like middle school band and he likes it so much more in high school. Give yourself that opportunity.
If your school won’t allow you to take an 8th class, instead of lunch, then I think you SHOULD take comp sci next year, and drop orchestra, unless you really love doing orchestra and it’s an important part of your social life. Right now, comp sci skills lead to great employment opportunities. You want to explore that early, so that if you find that you love it, you can take all the comp sci available to you in high school and dual enrollment classes. Perhaps you can play in a local youth symphony, instead, outside of school?
AFAIK, Delaware is unique here. For every other college, level of foreign language completed = number of years.
AP Calc BC as a sophomore! Jeez!
Ultimately do whatever makes you the most comfortable. I love computer science and I’m looking to concentrate in it, but I didn’t get to take any computer science classes until junior year. I mostly pursued opportunities outside of class (like USACO & game jams) and online courses (since we only get taught Java at our school). If you really want to keep doing orchestra and improve in it, and you want to keep learning Spanish for college applications, I wouldn’t drop them to take a comp sci class. Especially since you’re taking a demanding course schedule for those first two years already. Although it is helpful to take CS classes as an introduction to the field/start off on the right foot, if you absolutely can’t take them until later, experience and work on computer science outside of the classroom early on could help job opportunities and college applications.
TL;DR if you really want to do stuff with computer science but can’t take the class, look for opportunities outside the classroom.
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@parentologist Our school allows an additional class instead of lunch…but you can’t choose which one it is. In other words, you can’t just say you want to take orchestra during lunch. Also, at our schools, zero food or beverages are allowed in the instrumental music rooms. A student would not be able to eat during their orchestra period (which could be at 8:30 in the morning anyway…which isn’t exactly lunch time).
To the OP. As a 9th grader, I would suggest you continue in orchestra and continue taking Spanish. Many colleges want you to complete the equivalent of foreign language level 4. A LOT expect 3 years of foreign language. Once you have completed Spanish 4…then consider what to do about Spanish. Keep in mind that some colleges/majors do have a college foreign language requirement. Would it be better to stay with Spanish and then have that recent instruction in your head when you go to college?
Re: orchestra…I would do it in 9th grade. Then go from there. You take lessons and presumably you like this class.
I’m not sure why you think it’s an advantage to drop orchestra or Spanish…I agree with the above poster…take CS in a later year.
Oh okay, then I’ll decide if I want to take orchestra in my sophomore year or drop it. I think I will take Spanish 4 in Junior year.
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Yes, you should have English, math, science, social science/history, and foreign language (through level 3 or 4) each year through Jr year.
You should have one year each of bio, chem, physics for your sciences (including whatever you took in middle school).
If you love CS, join clubs, hackathons, teach yourself languages, etc.
Orchestra is a good class for freshman year, especially since you’re decent at it: allows you to be creative, can help form social bonds when changing schools, and probably less hw which allows you to focus on the other 5 classes and get As.
Sophomore year, re assess your involvement with orchestra, especially if it might be pursued outside of the regular school day without taking a class spot.
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The level reached is typically the important part when colleges look at foreign language taken in high school, although there may be some colleges that want to see N actual courses in addition to reaching level N or higher.
Skipping lunch every school day is a terrible idea, IMHO.
Not every school will allow a student to not have a lunch period so the poster needs to know the rules of school they attend. At our high school lunch takes place in the middle of a rotating 2 hour block in which 30 minutes is lunch so no way can a student take a class during lunch time. The class during lunch rotates so that it is a different class daily as well. Food in the band room would be a big no.