Hello, I am going into junior year this upcoming school year, and was wondering if taking Spanish 1 this year would affect me in any way, in terms of looking bad on applications? I did not take a language in 9 or 10 because I had taken an elective in its place, however, I do plan on completing my 3 years by taking another year over next summer, and finish up my third year senior year. Realistically, I know they won’t look at that and immediately disregard my other accomplishments, but my anxiousness likes to tell me otherwise–and in fact, one of my friends told me to give up my ivy dreams right now, and I don’t think she was being sarcastic. So CC, will it look bad, or will the fact that they are completed matter more? Thanks so much!
For schools that require/request three years of a foreign language, it does not matter when you take them. No required class is expected to have been completed by the time you submit your application.
Now for schools, like most Ivy League schools, that request 4 years of a FL, well, 3 years<4 years. Will you be at a disadvantage in this case? Yes. Will your application be automatically rejected? No.
Better late than never so it’s good that you have a plan to incorporate a language into your coursework. Having 3 years of a language (particularly since you will be making the effort of taking the language over the summer after junior year) is much better than having 0 years. It’s a good time for you to look at some of the websites of colleges you are interested in to see what the colleges would like to see in an applicants HS curriculum. There is always going to be an exception particularly if someone has some other unique and amazing accomplishment but with the quality of applicants being what they are, why not put yourself in the best possible position, right?