<p>My daughter has taken 2 years of HS Spanish and is thinking to drop Spanish this year. She basically does not know Spanish, but the school has been giving her feel good grades, C+ to B- instead of educating her as she is classified and the school wanted to show that she has no issue.
I questioned whether there is a need for another 2 years, the counselor told me that some schools required 4, but in the many schools I checked, nearly all required 2 years. I contacted a college directly they said they would give "extra consideration if the student takes 4 years", but what is extra consideration anyway? She is interested in Biology or accounting, won't an extra course in Math or Science helps her with 'extra consideration" ? Will 2 more years of Spanish with Bs help her with admission? will it make or break an admission decision?</p>
<p>There are schools that require 2 years minimum world language and recommend 3 or 4 years. So they do give extra consideration in that case. Having extra Science and Math (or higher levels) would also help for STEM in some cases. There is no conflict between them. Many students took AP Spanish and college level Math and Science classes in HS. However, there are also schools that require 3 years of World Language. In this case, or for competitive schools that recommend 3 or 4 years, having another year or two Spanish even with B would be helpful.</p>
<p>I would take one more year. 4 years is not absolutely necessary, but only taking 2 significantly lowers your chances at some schools.</p>
<p>her other option is AP chem… will taking Spanish be better than AP chem… if she does not plan to take the AP exam…she wants to major in nursing</p>
<p>Spanish definitely. She’s already taken honors Chem, yes? Taking AP Chem without the exam won’t really benefit her then (yes, added course rigor, but your sacrificing a requirement for admission at some schools).</p>
<p>It is hard to say. If She is applying to schools that only require 2 year of world language while the AP Chemistry is important to demonstrate a rigor curriculum, I would go with AP chem. If the school recommend 3 or 4 years of world language while taking AP Chem or not has little impact on course rigor, then I would go for Spanish. Of course, it is assuming there is no impact on GPA by taking either.</p>
<p>If the colleges she is looking at require 2 years, then I’d stop Spanish. I don’t think it would be frowned upon if the class is replaced by AP Chem. Some colleges do have a language requirement but she can always start fresh with a new language if that is the case. As long as you aren’t gunning for the hyper competitive schools, it should be fine. </p>
<p>If you have a good guidance counselor, you should talk to him/her as well.</p>
<p>no she hasn’t taken Honor Chem, she has regular Chem, this will be her only Honor/AP course… She has been doing great in Chem…, most of the school I checked only required 2 years, a few (say U of Delaware) said 4 years recommended, but then U of Delaware also asked for an extra year of Chem</p>
<p>oh sorry, I misspoke, I meant honors or regular, as in she’s taken chem in the past (wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be forgoing chem completely). Would she be able to take AP chem senior year? It would be better for her to have 3 years, better to be safe than sorry. UDel appears to have that specific recommendation on chemistry for nursing, but I’ve never seen that at other colleges before (doesn’t mean they don’t exist, I’ve just never seen one). However, I don’t know how they would enforce that because some HS don’t offer AP chem and those individuals would not be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I really depends on the colleges to which she is looking to apply. If they require two years, she is set. If they recommend/require 3+ years, she is not. The like below will give you a quick outline of what various schools suggest for foreign language preparation.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.asdk12.org/depts/world_lang/program/HS/University_WLReq.pdf”>https://www.asdk12.org/depts/world_lang/program/HS/University_WLReq.pdf</a></p>
<p>Where do you live? If you want to be a nurse in some areas Spanish would be very helpful.</p>
<p>^ That is a good point, but one may also take it in college.</p>
<p>thank you for the link. It is very helpful as I have been contacting the colleges directly.
We are in NJ. The fact is that she doesn’t know Spanish. It is a waste for time for her.
I don’t understand, if 4 years were important in the decision making process, why didn’t the colleges put 4 years required, instead of 2 required and 4 recommended?
No, she won’t be able to apply the highly competitive colleges, but I don’t want to take away the option for her.</p>