<p>Hi I am currently selecting courses for my senior year. I have taken 3 years of foreign language already and I am thinking about dropping my language senior year in order to take a technology class in Animation and Programming. My teacher said that I am strong in foreign language and that because of this I should continue taking it as 4 years will look very good. The reason I wanted to drop my foreign language is because </p>
<ol>
<li>When I go off to college I am thinking about learning a new language anyway.</li>
<li>Supposedly the 4th year of my language is suppose to be really hard as the class is conducted in that language.</li>
<li>There is no AP Italian so its' not like I can get AP credit for it. </li>
</ol>
<p>The highest level of language I've taken is Italian 3. </p>
<p>What do you guys think I should do? 4th year of language or animation class?</p>
<p>If you have any idea of what schools you are going to apply to, check their websites for high school course requirements/recommendations. If most of them say 4 years is required/recommended then take the 4th year of language.</p>
<p>For top school, take the 4th year of language.</p>
<p>Taking high level language courses is very good for any application. If you believe you’ll do well in Italian 4, take that.</p>
<p>Any other comments thanks for everyone who answered by the way.</p>
<p>I think in this case you’re better off with the fourth year of language because the technology class doesn’t sound particularly rigorous compared with a fourth year of a language. I think if you replaced the language with another AP class that wouldn’t hurt you though.</p>
<p>Once you take three, not taking the fourth is probably worse than just stopping at two. Any decent college will praise four+ years of a language, and some even explicitly recommend it on their websites as previously mentioned. </p>
<p>As for your notion that “the class is supposedly conducted entirely in that language.” Everybody always says this, but it’s rarely the case. Most of the time they say this to weed out the slackers before they sign up to take the class. At least this has always been my experience. And if it is really entirely in the foreign language and “really hard” then more power to you – you’ve challenged yourself and you’ll make it. Colleges want to see that you’ve taken the most rigorous schedule you can; bypassing the fourth year of a language is a common indicator that you didn’t do that. </p>
<p>Anyways, no doubt, go for the fourth.</p>
<p>A highly selective school using holistic admissions will likely prefer to see level 4 over level 3 (assuming level 4 is available to you).</p>
<p>A school that admits by formula or is not that selective (midlevel state universities and the like) probably won’t care.</p>
<p>However, check to see if taking level 4 will be of any help in foreign language graduation requirements for the schools you are interested in.</p>