I know most colleges require 2 years of a language, but I absolutely hate learning languages so I’ve only taken Spanish 1. I’m currently a junior and need to take Spanish 2.
So will it look bad to universities if I take Spanish 2 my senior year? Should I take it online in the summer instead? The online course is just so much more work, and this summer I want to focus on volunteering and college admissions, not such a time consuming class. But if it’ll make a big difference I’m willing to take it in the summer.
My senior year I’ll probably be taking AP Literature, statistics, economics, and intro to psych. Don’t know if I’ll be taking a science quite yet (I hate science, will NOT be going into the STEM field at all).
I don’t want to major in anything language-related. I’m considering creative writing or journalism, and I don’t want to go to anything Ivy League. (I’ll probably go to FIU, but I’d really like to go to Ringling or SCAD!)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
How time consuming? Volunteering isn’t 24 hours a day and i’m sure you can find an hour a day to finish a class. Plus, you might want to consider picking up some more social science classes (Gov, Euro, US, World)
@ja312608 I took Spanish 1 online, hoping to finish within 2 months (started in July) and I ended up finishing in May of the next year, if that gives you an idea of how time consuming it is. Though tbh, at this point I’ll probably end up taking it online again just to be safe.
I’ve taken so many social sciences (AP World, AP Psychology, and AP US History), so I don’t know if I really want to take more other than Gov and Economics next year, but thanks for the advice anyway!
I don’t think online classes are a good option for you if it took that long to finish Spanish 1. Take it during your senior year so you know you’ll finish it. Also check the requirements at your desired colleges; some require more than 2 years of a foreign language.
I think it will look worse if you don’t take Spanish 2 senior year TBH.
Foreign language is a core subject so I wouldn’t skimp on it. I suggest taking it senior year. If you find language learning difficult, it will be even tougher learning it online.
Don’t most states require two years as a graduation requirement? Are you in public school?
Do you have 3 lab science classes? If so and your not applying to a top school or stem major it is probably enough but check with the schools your thinking of applying to.Ask your guidance counselor what is recommended. I would either take a dual enrollment Spanish class (if allowed) or take Spanish 2 in high school senior year.
Check whether the colleges you want to attend have foreign language admission or graduation requirements.
@CCtoAlaska My school doesn’t require 2 years of a language to graduate, but since most universities ask for it, it’s basically a requirement if you want to go to uni ??♀️
@cherryboyy yeah, most of the schools pretty much require it because it’s required for uni. Good luck with taking it again! One word: FLASHCARDS. Also every time you get fill in the blank type exercises for homework, write out the complete sentence instead of just filling in the blank. And read it out loud to yourself. Those things will help.
Maybe I’m wrong on this, but if you’re so reluctant on learning another language, journalism might not be a good fit either.
I think it’s only in the US and perhaps England where you find so many people fixated on only speaking one language. The rest of the world, everyone educated speaks 2-5 languages. There’s a reason why universities want you to have exposure in a different language.
Take it IN CLASS. It’s really, really difficult to learn a language online. It means nothing about your abilities that you had rouble with it online.
There’d be an expectation for a student who wants to get into a field such as Journalism that you’d have more than the minimum of foreign language. Not only is it a core class but it’s a necessary skill for you to have.
In Miami any Journalism job will expect you to be bilingual in Spanish (or have a working knowledge of Haitian Creole via French if you want to stand out).
Take level 2 Spanish and plan to take more in college (doesn’t have to be Spanish, there’ll be lots of possibilities at FIU).
Also, if you really want to get into journalism, you need to have a “subject specialty”, as a minor - environmental science, political science, etc. Unless you go into production, which has good job prospects in its own.
AP lit, AP gov, AP econ + Spanish 2+ stats+ into to psych or current events (if current events is offered at your school it’d be better) + ? = Good schedule.
If you don’t like science, see if you can take APES, as it’d be one less science class to take in college (and college science classes are WAY harder than APES).
Do plan on applying to FIU’s honors college if you can get a 27 ACT. (Do NOT take the test without preparing for it. )
Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Think I’ll end up taking it senior year instead of online 
And I’m not too serious about going into journalism to be honest! My dad just wants me to go into that field instead of creative writing, so it’s made me uncertain as to what I’ll major in ??♀️
Look into Nonfiction Writing at Denison - it’d satisfy your interests as well as you dad, because it’s very versatile - some majors even got to do an internship with Amazon (or was it google?) Run the NPC to see if it’d be affordable.