Would it look bad to drop a third year of spanish for an AP elective?

<p>I really am beginning to doubt my ability in spanish; the teachers in my school aren't the best for spanish and this year I am struggling to get B's. Would it look bad to drop the spanish from my future in order to take an AP class such as Art History,Government or Psychology?</p>

<p>Take the class you like best. You will learn more, and you most likely will get a better grade in it.</p>

<p>Yes, it is true that many colleges and universities “recommend” three years of a foreign language, but why they do that is beyond me. All too much of HS level foreign language instruction is lousy. This isn’t necessarily the teacher’s fault either. Often they are hamstrung by the school district’s curriculum.</p>

<p>If you truly want to master Spanish, you might look into a summer or school year exchange program to a country where you would actually use Spanish on a daily basis.</p>

<p>At my school they want you to take a language all through high school. They incourage it a LOT.</p>

<p>…but I would take an AP that you do better in if you are struggling. Good lucK!</p>

<p>I would check the requirements of your top 2-3 colleges you are truly interested in. Some colleges require 3 years of a language. Others require one year of foreign language in college IF you don’t have 4 years before arriving on campus. Check it out so you don’t screw yourself over.</p>

<p>do you know where i could find my favorite colleges’ requirements?
my main interests in a few years I think will be:
Penn State UP
University of Miami
Ohio State
GWU
Syracuse
Maryland
UF(instate)
Rutgers(instate)</p>

<p>and dreams of USC</p>

<p>Have you looked at what the colleges you’re interested in require? Some schools want 3 years. If you’re aiming at top colleges it will be a problem. Why not get some tutoring or self studying this summer?</p>

<p>Visit each website. Use the search feature to look for “admission requirements” or visit the admissions sections. Yes this information is there. It may be buried fairly deeply. Kind of like the way they bury the true costs of attendance.</p>

<p>Very few schools “require” 3 years of a foreign language-most “recommend” a certain academic program, but substituting an AP that reflects your interests is fine in most cases. Just be prepared that you may have a language distribution requirement to fulfill when you get to college which will be taking up valuable ‘real estate’ in your schedule. </p>

<p>One possible option that takes some initiative: If your high school language classes aren’t appealing, try learning a more interesting language outside of school. Community colleges, private tutors-heck, even family members and neighbors who are native speakers, can introduce you to the world of Farsi, Hindi, Arabic, American Sign Language, or some other interesting possibility. Not only would it be fun, but it differentiates you from the 76% or so kids in the US who study Spanish as their second language.</p>

<p>I just used the collegeboard website. Plug in the college name. Then click on the tab for admission. Towards the bottom of the page there is a header for High School Preparation. For example I looked up University of Florida. It said 2 years of foreign language. </p>

<p>Shouldn’t take too long to checkout your list of colleges.</p>

<p>I dropped spanish my junior year to take ap bio and it was a great decision for me… however i also took latin freshman-senior years</p>

<p>So if the college requires 2 but reccomends 3, and i drop the third year for an AP class that would help my GPA more, would they frown upon that?</p>

<p>I don’t see why 2 years of spanish isn’t looked upon well enough. I myself ( current junior) may only have 2 years of spanish when I graduate. I somewhat will like to countinue spanish into year 3, though I also have other classes needed to take. I also somewhat would like to take spanish in college.</p>

<p>like heres the thing: I have zero interest in spanish. I feel that as of now i know all that i’m ever going to need to know. I think taking an AP class and boosting my GPA would be better for me, but if it’s going to prevent me getting in one of my top colleges,(Penn State, Miami, Maryland, ohio state) I would force myself to keep taking it.</p>

<p>I took 2 years of spanish in HS. They want you to take multiple years of a FL or replace it with a equally or more challenging course, which I presume an AP class would.</p>

<p>“So if the college requires 2 but reccomends 3, and i drop the third year for an AP class that would help my GPA more, would they frown upon that?”</p>

<p>requires pretty much means bare minimum and recommends pretty much means that you will be higher looked upon if you do what is recommended, and even beyond.
Up to you though. A lot of people who will be applying will have done above what is recommended and gotten good grades in the classes. Good luck!</p>

<p>Also check whether not not your college choices require a level of proficiency to graduate from them. If you stick with it for another year you may be able to test out of the language requirement at the college.</p>

<p>edit: I checked Un of Miami. They require language classes to graduate.</p>

<p>Miami needs a language class in addition to HS or only if I switch out after this year?</p>

<p>Here is the page that lists their requirements in order to get a BA or BS from them:</p>

<p>[College</a> of Arts & Sciences - Undergraduate](<a href=“http://www6.miami.edu/umbulletin/und/artsci/index.htm]College”>http://www6.miami.edu/umbulletin/und/artsci/index.htm)</p>

<p>This is the kind of thing you need to check at all the universities.</p>

<p>Drop it if you feel you can do better in another class.</p>

<p>yeah. i mean i definetely feel I can do better in a class that’s weighted more to help my GPA, something like Psychology,Gov, or Art History that I’m actually interested in. I just don’t want my dropping a core class to be the difference of me not getting into a school that I would really want to go to.</p>