Hi there! I am going to be a sophomore next year, and I am transferring from public to private school. My public school only offers Spanish and Italian as a foreign language, and I am given the opportunity to take Mandarin next year at my private school, and I really want to do it. However, I am scared to do so because my top colleges, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale want me to reach the third level of a foreign language. (I want to double major in computer science and business BTW). Will this hurt my chances?
Take Mandarin for this reason: “I really want to do it.”
Don’t frame your life to meet standards of three universities that only admit approximately 5% of their applicants. Besides, you will be a sophomore. That gives you time to complete three years of Mandarin before you graduate high school. You don’t need to finish the third year before you apply. Finishing two years by the end of junior year, and being enrolled in the third year your senior year is good enough.
Can you do both? My daughter is a rising junior who will be in French 4 next year and her school began offering Mandarin Chinese. She plans to take both, and is very excited to do so. But you have to really love learning languages to do that.
You can take Mandarin 1-2-3 at the private school I presume so you’d be fine. Since the switch would coincide with your changing schools it would be obvious as to why you started Mandarin sophomore year. So, no downsides, and you’re really interested - go for it. 