I’ve been leaning back and forth on which class I should take and I need some advice. When we did registration for our classes I was really upset with my Spanish teacher(i still am), so I signed up for jazz band. After doing some research about colleges I am interested in going to, I noticed that most of them want 3 or 4 years of foreign language. I am really bad at Spanish(my final average was a 84 and it is an unweighted course), should I take Spanish 3 and have it pull down my GPA for another year just to say i took 3 years of Spanish or should I do Jazz band, a class I would actually enjoy?
If I decide to do Spanish 3 I will have to explain to my band director why I’m backing out of something I already said I would do, and it would be really awkward and he would be mad at me.
While 3 or 4 years of a foreign language are recommended, it’s not required. If you really feel like you would be miserable taking Spanish, then go with jazz band. (Although, 84 is not a bad grade). And if music is your hook, then taking jazz band instead of Spanish is fine.
If it is specifically about the teacher, could you request a different teacher?
And also, your band director will not be mad at you. If you end up taking Spanish, just explain that your counselor/parents/yourself decided to take Spanish instead and they’ll understand.
Most 4-year colleges will expect Level 3, and if you’re aiming for top colleges they’ll expect Level 4 or AP.
Is there only one teacher?
What other classes are you taking, does your school only have 5 periods? (Most schools have 6 or 7 and some even have 8 or 9, but I know that in cash-strapped states like Oklahoma some HS have had to cut their offerings to 5 courses a year only 
).
Would your school allow you to dual enroll at a community college? You’d start straight into Spanish Level 2 then would need to take Community College Level 3 (which is equivalent to HS Level 4) and be done at the end of the year while still being able to take Jazz Band.
Bottom line: Stopping at Spanish 2 will block off lots of 4-year colleges but there are different ways to handle the next level.
@MYOS1634 I attend a rural school in the South East, so we only have 1 Spanish teacher, so I can’t ask for another teacher.
The deadline for Dual Enrollment registration for the Fall semester was May 1st, but I could register to take it during next summer( doing all the band stuff means I have after school practice or concerts at least once a week all school year, so after school doesn’t work well). My school allows students to dual enroll at a choice of 2 Community colleges, both of them only offer up to Introductory Spanish 2. Would I be able to enroll in the Intro Spanish 2 without having taken Intro Spanish 1? Is there anyway to know how my teachers curriculum would line up with the colleges curriculum?
My school allows students to choose 7 classes to take, 4 of which have to be the core subjects Math,Science,History, English, and every students has a shortened class in the morning that is Career Prep if your a freshman, ACT prep if your a sophomore or junior, and College prep if your a senior.
My schedule would be something like-
Skinny(ACT Prep)
AP Language and Composition
Jazz Band
AP Chem or AP Biology- Haven’t Decided(my school requires every students to take the non AP version of these classes as freshman and sophomores, then you can either take the AP version or take a non honors class)
AP U.S. History
Concert Band
Therapeutics(Health Science Career Technical Class, my school requires every student to be a Career Tech Completer, which means you take 3 Career Tech classes and receive some sort of certification )
Pre-Calculus
Marching Band(After School)
College Spanish is different from high school Spanish. Spanish 1 in college covers Spanish 1 and 2 in high school. So I’m pretty sure that you would meet the prerequisites for Introductory Spanish 2 (which should cover high school Spanish 3 and 4). BUT you should check the curriculum to make sure - it should be on the community college’s website.
So the four required subject are: AP Lang, AP Chem or AP Bio, APUSH, and Pre calculus? Then that leaves you to choose from Spanish, Jazz Band, Concert Band, Therapeutics, and Marching Band for the other three classes.
It sounds like Therapeutics is a required class, so if you can take Spanish in the summer, that leaves you to choose two classes from Jazz Band, Concert Band, and Marching band.
Typically, High school 1-2 covers all the basics so that you’d be able to jump into Spanish 2 at the CC. You could see if the CC has two sessions, so you could take Spanish 1 for a quick refresh&recap, then Spanish 2; and if you get A’s in both, it’d greatly offset your HS Spanish results. Win-win.
Drop one of the band periods. Three sounds like overkill even if you love Band. Or do you plan on playing for a college marching band? Or getting a music scholarship?
Of course there might not be better courses for you to take.
Is that a career tech you’re genuinely interested in? What does it involve? It’s likely to be of as much importance to colleges as Health and PE, unless you can explain what it is and it’s worth explaining in “additional information”.
@nomood Marching band is after school for about 3 hours every day so it doesn’t have any effect on my schedule. The only thing it has any effect on is me being able to participate in other extra-curricular activities. I miss out on being a part of a lot of groups and clubs because of it, but i don’t think I would be able to make it through high school if I didn’t do Marching Band.
@MYOS1634 I probably wouldn’t be in Marching Band in college because it is a lot more stressful than high school, but I will be participating in concert and symphonic band programs at whichever college I attend. I plan on applying for music scholarships, but I don’t plan on majoring in music so the scholarships will not be very big.
I do have an interest in Medicine so I went with a Career Technical Pathway that was related to medicine. The pathway I’m taking Therapeutics for will get me CNA certification at the end of my senior year, which really isn’t useful if I am going to college after high school, but it was really that or some dumb pathway with something engineering related.
The Career Tech classes are required by my school, not state. They do it because having a certain number of students doing the courses significantly increases their funding. I would move to a different school, but the only other school I can attend that isn’t a private school, doesn’t offer any AP classes, foreign language, or music classes.
Oh I see. Well, see what the community college says about Spanish. If Spanish 2 there does indeed cover Spanish 3 and 4 of high school, and you qualify for the class, then you’re set. You can take it next summer.
I only took 2 years of Spanish in high school and had to retake the entire series in college. I really regretted not taking Spanish 3, as I would have satisfied the requirement if I had. Most colleges want the 3+ years and you’ll likely have regrets if you stop after Spanish 2 (or limit the colleges you’re able to apply to). Good luck to you!
@SchoolLover22
Look into St Olaf. Their concert band is top-notch and they’re very good for premed (they have a summer internship program with Mayo Clinic). They have music scholarships for non majors (you can be in concert band if you"re really good regardless of major).
CNA will help you in college because it’ll allow you to have a non-minimum wage job. CNAs are always needed so it’s a good choice, plus it provides you with lots of experience in medical settings and may help shadowing doctors, getting recommendations, etc.