<p>I apologize if this has been asked before, I'm new to the site and haven't quite figured everything out, please forgive me!</p>
<p>I plan on taking Spanish 601D in the fall, as I need a foreign language requirement and I have wanted to be able to speak Spanish since <em>forever</em> (I am unable to speak with 1/2 of my family due to the language barrier-long story). </p>
<p>However, I have been told that languages at UT are BRUTAL (Spanish in particular) on gpa's and to be honest, I cannot afford that. I'm in the process of trying to recover my gpa from a bad freshman year in hopes to transfer to another major- but I digress...</p>
<p>So my question to you is: </p>
<p>Should I drop the Spanish class in favor of another core requirement class?</p>
<p>Is it really <em>that</em> hard to where an 'A' is unattainable? keeping in mind that my mother is fluent and has agreed to help and speak to me in only Spanish if it were to help me.</p>
<p>opinions from those who have taken the class, or have heard about the course are greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I see that people are too polite to comment. :)</p>
<p>you really need to learn how to set priorities right.</p>
<p>Your main priority for the next semester is to raise you GPA, not to gamble with intensive Spanish. </p>
<p>If Spanish is a priority it is not an urgent one, it can wait. You can take Spanish any time, and introductory Spanish is offered both Fall and Spring semester.</p>
<p>Drop it.</p>
<p>What classes did you sign for next semester besides Spanish?</p>
<p>If I were you I would take 12 credit hours next semester instead of 15 or 17 or whatever and try to get best grades in ALL my classes. </p>
<p>I would take an easy A core requirement Fine Art class, something like T D 301 INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE . One section is still open but it will probably close after the first orientation, so if you decide to switch contact your counselor immediately.</p>
<p>I would contact the counselor and ask what special options are available for STEM classes. UT accepts automatically all kind students from all kind of schools, including academically really bad ones, and UT has special classes for students from these schools, with extra instructional hours. If you decide to try it ask your advisor if you can get into one of these programs and classes with extra instruction. </p>
<p>One more thing. If your mom is helping you with something more than workbook homework in Spanish (it can be considered tutoring), something like essays or projects etc, and you are caught, it will be considered cheating with all kind of consequences.</p>
<p>I’m not going to lie, spanish at UT is brutal but you will learn the language. I took the bilingual 610d class last semester (which I don’t recommend if you care about your GPA) and I learned so much more spanish in one semester than I had done in the 2 years of high school spanish that I took. This semester I took the regular 611d class and I received an A-, but just BARELY. I busted my ass in that class and I can actually speak the language but the grammar was just BRUTAL. I can’t predict your performance but I knew some white kids who did extremely well in the class but they were the exception rather than the norm. My only advice is to get your grade as high as possible before the final because it usually brings grades down.</p>
<p>Spanish was my 1st language but we just spoke it. Since I was raised in the US & attended school hear all my grammar was in English not Spanish. 20+ years ago when I enrolled at the university (now UTPA) & took a Spanish class it WAS BRUTAL just like robertrulez stated. If it was that hard at UTPA I’d hate to think what it’s like at UTA.</p>
<p>YaYa- I have signed up for spanish, intro to geo, english, and a writing class, just trying to take care of general requirements, but I have to take at least 30 hours for me to keep my financial aid. I guess I can drop spanish for the 2nd half of government and a fine arts, but then I have to find classes to take spring semester. The nice part about spanish was that it is 6 credit hours meaning I could focus on spanish and geo more intensively.
but from the responses, spanish really is a gamble so I guess it’s better not to try.</p>
<p>robertrulez- yikes! I’ve heard mixed reviews from people who have taken the class who said getting an A was really hard, but not impossible, but congrats to you!! I would eventually like to take it, but I may have to wait when I am in a better position XD</p>
<p>franko5150- woah! so I’m just gonna assume it’s the grammar that gets EVERYONE. I can understand the language for the most part, but not to where I can hold a strong conversation!</p>
<p>I can understand it & read it, but when you get thrown in to a class where you haven’t been TAUGHT the grammar…that’s another thing. Seriously that was the most difficult class I’ve ever taken. Even Greek was easier since they started me at level 1 assuming I didn’t know squat (it was all Greek to me ;-).</p>
<p>Just so you know you don’t need 30 hours for financial aid. Just 12 each semester to be considered full time. And to franko, yeah it was pretty ridiculous but next semester I’m taking advanced grammar… Oh snappppp</p>
<p>robertrulez- yeah I understand you only need to take 12 hours a semester to be considered full time, but one of my scholarships that is paying for the majority of my bill requires 30 hours a semester ):</p>
<p>now to find 2 classes to fill the void spanish left in my schedule!</p>
<p>30 credit hours per year, including summer classes and AP/ IB / CLEP credits</p>
<p>If you take 6 hour during summer and 12 hours per semester during school year you will be fine. At least this is how scholarships work for my daughter and all her friends with scholarships.</p>