What is the wisest choice for foreign language?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey everyone, I assume this is the appropriate place for my questions in regards to foreign language classes for Junior and Senior year of highschool.</p>

<p>Question #1: Should I take German II Junior year and German III senior year, or should I take French I Junior year and French II senior year?</p>

<p>Question #2: What would colleges think of this? </p>

<p>I took Latin 1 as a Freshman in high school and earned an A (both semesters). This year I'm taking German I and I have a B+ for 1st semester, due to the lack of interest.</p>

<p>What do you guys think would be the wisest choice in regards to exceeding the recommended number of foreign language classes taken (i.e. German I - German III)? </p>

<p>Note: I really want to take French and it seems remarkably interesting, but I do want to put myself out there to be recognized through my transcript for colleges to look at. HELP.</p>

2

<p>Colleges generally like to see you reach the highest level in a language in high school.</p>

<p>For example, completing German 3 will look better than three or four different level 1 language courses. (However, less common languages like German may be more at risk of being cut if the school runs low on money, or if there is only one teacher who retires or otherwise leaves.)</p>

3

<p>Why didn’t you stick with Latin? It looks good to stay consistent with your language and do well in it, but you shouldn’t be worried about just what colleges think. If it looks interesting, just do it!</p>

4

<p>You should look at the requirements for the colleges that you’re interested in. Most of the colleges my daughter applied to were looking for 3 or 4 years of the same language. If you don’t want to continue with German, you could study French over the summer and do French 2 next year.</p>

5

<p>This is a tough decision to make. I agree to all the comments posted so far and they make great suggestions. Thank-you.</p>

<p>Edit: Emailed the French teacher in regards to self-study. Hoping for the best.)</p>

6

<p>If you find German boring, I HIGHLY doubt you will find French remarkably interesting.</p>

7

<p>I think you should do Latin over German. It will seem very strange if you were to take the first year of three different languages in HS. You’ll also get bored with learning verb conjugations for multiple languages.</p>

<p>Is there a way to change back to Latin mid-year?</p>

8

<p>Take French.</p>

9

<p>Harvard offers some advice about foreign language and preparing for college on its web site. I think the advice is sound for all college-intending students, whether they plan to apply to Harvard or not. </p>

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<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Preparing for College](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html#language]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html#language)</p>

10

<p>Generally, stick with what you have already started and get to the highest level you can.</p>

11

<p>Whenever colleges state they require or recommend a number of years of language (two is often a requirement, three is often a recommendation and sometimes four), they mean in a single language. Thus, you will be in a better position by taking a language to level three such as German. Latin would be another choice but it is likely the worst language to take, not because of the language itself but because high schools.whenever they have budget cuts, often cut out Latin, leaving those with one or two years of Latin unable to complete the three needed.</p>

12

<p>I think you should stick with German because many colleges require at least 2 years of the same language, so if you do French you’ll only have the minimum.</p>

13

<p>If you want to, i don’t know, get a job someday, take Spanish.</p>