I know a local HS that offers Spanish Honor Society so I know what you mean. You could earn some accolades, making taking the language beneficial for you, but it won’t put it a notch higher for college admissions.
We dont offer Latin Honor Society as of recently but my Magister has mentioned bringing it back. I have been awarded accolades for achieving high standardized scores for various national and global Latin tests.
Yes, and so do many, many applicants taking Spanish, German, French and other languages. It’s not that rare. Again, just enjoy the language but don’t except to have adcoms bowing down to you because of it.
Latin is useful, but so are other languages. Some may depend on the other options at your school - in our area, there are awards and language Honor Societies for French, Spanish, Latin and Italian, as a student can take 4 years of these in High School, but not for Chinese nor German (only 2 years are available).
Some students take 4 years of a language because they think colleges like to see that. Others realize that since some Languages are not offered at “Honors” level, it could affect the weighted GPA, which affects class rank. Last year’s valedictorian at D’s high school only took 2 years language as the rest of her courses were AP or Honors - and she correctly calculated that straight A+ with fewer level one courses meant a higher weighted GPA, she narrowly edged out the Salutatorian who also had straight A+'s with one more level one course and one fewer study hall.
Both of those kids got into their top choice schools, and both gave great graduation speeches.
If you are concerned about how one or two classes makes you look compared to others you are competing against for admissions, you probably are underestimating the complexity and subjectivity of the application review process. Based on every admissions information sessions we attended, it became crystal clear that GPA and course rigor are important only to the extent that they get you in the discussion room., From there, essays, intended major, geographic and other diversity, rec letters, EC’s, expressed level of interest, and then interviews are what they use to make their decisions.
The same could be achieved by taking another live Romance language to develop a better understanding of how the 2nd live Romance language works. My kids have already done this w Spanish & French. After a recent trip to Italy, both are keen to pick up some Italian.
Magister…as in: you’re international? Or ?
Winning awards is “nice.” Not a tip.
This:
“If you are concerned about how one or two classes (or a relative or confirmation, etc,) makes you look compared to others you are competing against for admissions, you probably are underestimating the complexity and subjectivity of the application review process.”
Taking Latin and Greek (the ancient kind) and doing well on “National Latin and National Greek Examinations” can have a hugely beneficial impact on getting into top colleges. Short of that the language doesn’t really matter.
I had earned Maxima Cum Laude on both and the Medusa Mythology Exam. If anything I thought those would be the ones everyone has. Thank you, @Troyus
My D2 also got top honors on the national Latin Exam as do a number of other top kids. It’s not a hook. I agree with other posters, there is no magic formula that is going to make all the top colleges rush to take you. You need to do it the hard way and write essays that express why they should want to have you be part of their community.
A differentiator from any component of your application is your relationship to it. If you fulfilled your h.s. and prospective college language requirement that is just a checkbox, doesn’t matter which language. If you are deeply involved in a specific language and culture and activities around it and you can express why this is meaningful to you and your desired direction, it is more interesting. Same can be said about someone who has pursued programming, a high level sport, a deeply compassionate community service effort, etc. If you are doing any of these things to impress an admissions committee, they probably wont. Is Latin meaningful to you? keep going!
Dang that’s why I chose Mandarin, aka the hardest language in the world…
The romance languages should carry less weight because you can conjugate and a lot of words are similar to English, plus languages like Spanish are spoken very often in the US indirectly or not towards you.
Going back to the SAT question, I’m sure you could argue that some languages (i.e Latin or German) could be somewhat of a factor in achieving a higher score, that’s proven. I also know that UPenn has a thing for Wharton applicants who take Spanish (I believe they have a requirement to take a course as well? Correct me if I’m wrong.) because of how useful it is for business and in the modern world with a growing Hispanic population.
“A differentiator from any component of your application is your relationship to it.”
Beautifully said, @sasketchewan.
Mandarin is hardly the hardest language in the world. There’s zero conjugation, no genders, simple syntax, and 3 year olds can speak it.
^^ Right. Name a three year old who speaks Latin. 
At one time, @SlackerMomMD
But I’m sure Mandarin can be hard to learn, unless its your native language. I’ve heard English is statistically the hardest language to learn yet it was somehow easy to us when we were 4, 5, 6 years old.
OK, you’re wrong.
Mandarin is vert hard to learn (level5) mening itll take a lot of dedicated efforts and a college major to gain usable fluency.
Choosing a language to impress adcoms is ridiculous but it can be a differentiator if they try to fill their Chinese language classes, but it’s equally true or any language that’s an institutional need.
In terms of professional use, I’d consider Portuguese the best investment in terms of time/fluency.
The following link is directed at anyone who thinks learning Chinese is easy for a native English speaker. Read before you enroll - the road is long and difficult: http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html
I actually think in some ways Latin is easier than other foreign languages because you aren’t expected to speak it or listen to it and most translating is done from Latin to English. That said, I think it has a little bit of a reputation for being more difficult and therefore you get cut a little slack for less than stellar grades. My younger son got into Tufts, Vassar and U of Chicago and never had a grade above a B in Latin.
Amusingly my son actually did get awards on the National Latin Exam, mostly because he knew his mythology. We didn’t put much stake in the exam, but it was a nice thing to put on the application none the less.
This kid took Arabic in college spending his entire junior year in Jordan. It turns out that reaching an acceptable level of a “critical language” is worth an extra $200 a month in the Navy.
I believe John Locke spoke Latin as a three year old or at least as a very young and very precocious child. (I may be misremembering that since I can’t find an online citation.)
This is what the US Foreign Service considers the most difficult languages by the time it takes to learn them for English speakers: http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty (Yes Chinese is considered among the most difficult.)