Three vs. Four Years of a foreign language. Impacts?

Applying to College
1

Hi all. This is my first post here, so please excuse my possible lack of convention. :slight_smile:

I was wondering about the importance of taking three years of a foreign language vs. four.

Personally, I go to a very competitive high school, ranked in the top ten in the country (I’ll leave it at that). I took Spanish 1 (A) in middle school, Spanish 2 my freshman year (A) and Spanish 3 (B+) this year. I don’t enjoy the language and the class consumes a lot of my time. I really don’t want to take Spanish 4 next year.

My problem is that I’m shooting for some very competitive universities (Harvard, Yale, etc). I have all A’s in my other subjects, and will graduate with 9 AP credits, and all other honors classes. My only non-honor classes are:
-HPE1
-HPE2
-Spanish 1,2,3 (not offered at honors level)
-one semester of Journalism

I also have excellent ECs. I do debate on the TOC level.

Spanish 4 is not offered as an honors class at my school. I could opt to take AP Spanish Lit or Lang. However, my issue is my heavy course load junior year. It will also be nearly impossible for me to get an A in Spanish next year.

Just in case it matters, I can speak Chinese fluently, although I cannot write/read it.

So my real question is: Is it worth struggling through another year of Spanish, getting a B, and dropping an AP class to take it? I know universities prefer 4 years, but how will it play out in the holistic view?

Finally, I have the one last option of taking AP Spanish Lit/Lang online during the school year as an 8th course. I can definitely get an A in this online class, but my performance on the AP exam will not be optimal. Is this a good choice?

Thanks for the advice! :slight_smile:

2

Harvard recommends (i.e. requires) “[f]our years of a single foreign language” in high school.

https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/choosing-courses

If you don’t feel you can hack the AP, I would take non-honors Spanish 4 in preference to dropping it entirely, especially in only junior year.

3

All, if not the most, of the selective schools require/strongly prefer 4 years of foreign language.

I took 3 because I was one of the two people with schedule conflict in my class. I don’t think it had any bearings on my overall admission decisions.

Your judgement call.

4

Completion of a higher level in high school may allow you to place into a higher level in college, so that you have to complete fewer courses to complete a foreign language *graduation/i requirement.

If you are considering a college with such a graduation requirement, and are interested in using Chinese which you can speak and listen but not read and write, check whether it offers courses for heritage speakers which would be more suitable for you.

5

Having a 4th year (or level 4) world language may help your application slightly at competitive schools, while a lower GPA would not. So, if taking the Spanish 4 may lower your GPA not only from that class but also affecting other classes, you probably should skip that.

6

Since taking the online Spanish AP class wouldn’t necessarily result in a B (you say “definitely an A”), I’d suggest doing that as lng as you can start in July, to get rid of some of the lessons early. Spanish Language is easier than Spanish Literature. The AP test result doesn’t really matter for admission purpose. It may impact course placement, but many universities have their own placement tests anyway.

7

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Since the general consensus is leaning towards taking one more year, I have a follow up question. How would it look if I skipped a year of language and then took AP Spanish Lang online in my senior year. It would still amount to four total years of language, but would it look sketchy? I ask since I want to lighten my junior year course load.

8

How would skipping a year and then taking a class online amount to four years? That’s three by my count.

9

Take AP Spanish online.

10

They want to see proficiency in a language other than your native tongue so making it AP counts. I did french 1/french 2/ap french and it only counts 3 years but it shows proficiency which is ultimately what they’re looking for.

11

AP level is generally considered level 4 or 5 by US high school standards.

12

AP is considered Level 5 (more than 4 years) so regardless of how you get there, you have the required level (years) they want to see.

13

The level completed supercedes number of years taken.