I am a Sophomore in high school and have taken three years of Latin. I have chosen not to continue to Latin 4 as I do not find the language interesting or fun anymore. I was wondering if it would look okay on my transcript or if I should do Spanish.
Depends on the selectivity of the schools you are considering. My S had Latin in 8th-10th grade (sounds like what you have) and dropped foreign language altogether for 11th and 12th and had no trouble with admissions (but he applied to only somewhat selective schools in the 100-150 USNW range).
Take a look at the admissions requirements at schools you might be interested in (if you even have any idea yet) to verify their foreign language requirements. Usually they’d prefer 4+ years of one language to 3 of one and 2 of another.
For the most selective colleges, it is likely that many competing applicants will have foreign language year 4 or higher. At less competitive colleges, that may be less of an issue against competing applicants.
Remember that many colleges have foreign language graduation requirements that may be higher than their foreign language admission requirements, so completing a higher level in high school may allow completing the college graduation requirement in fewer courses.
i, like the others above, believe this depends on your school of choice. schools like harvard, stanford, and yale will have kids with four+ years of a language. however, schools like, say, umichigan, wake forest, and nyu will have kids with three or even just the required two years.
keep in mind, though, some kids’ schools (like mine for example) don’t offer up to four years of their language of choice (i was only able to take three years of french because my school didn’t offer french iv) which is why they are kind of “excused” from not taking four years. if your school offers latin iv and you choose not to take it, colleges will see that you had the option and didn’t act upon it. will that hurt you? i don’t particularly think so. many, many schools only want to see three years anyway. i’ve never heard of someone being rejected because of not taking the fourth year of a language, lol.
tl;dr: it’s completely up to you.
My D2 was in the same situation and wanted to stop after Spanish 3 in sophomore. I advised her to take Spanish 4 unless there is a conflict in schedule or unavailable. For top schools that recommend 4 years of world language, most of the applicants will comply with that. Although just not having the level 4 WL may not be the sole reason for rejection, it does weaken the application. In reality, no one really knows why one is rejected anyway and one may just regret not taking the level 4 WL in the future.
What colleges are you thinking of?
Do you have an option to umpstzrt on Spanish by taking it spring quarter at a local community college, continuing over the summer, and jumping into Spanish 3 in the Fall of junior year, meaning you’d have level 3 in Latin and level 3 (or4 w/ Sr year) on Spanish?
However level 2 in Spanish wouldn’t help you much.
Look online at the requirements/recommendations of colleges you are considering. Understand that Spanish 1 won’t count as your fourth year of foreign language. Top tier colleges often want you to take up to Level 4 of one language. I’d reconsider the idea of taking Latin 4.
Usually, languages are just starting to get interesting AFTER 4 yrs. HS or 2 yrs college.
Four years of Latin is a good way for your app to stand out a bit in a sea of those with 4 yrs. Spanish, French and German.
Too bad Latin isn’t fun anymore because you have lots of historical records and text to explore. Latin is so important in language that classifying and learning words is so facilitated. You can add Spanish, Italian and other languages readily. Finish off your opportunity to complete Latin! To stop now seems sorta perverse. Vini etc.
A friend of mine was in your position back in sophomore year. He decided to stop taking Latin after the 3 level because he no longer liked the classes. However, he instead chose to take Korean classes, which showed colleges where his actual intellectual passion was. About a month ago, he was accepted to Columbia ED. So effectively, it’s fine if you stop taking latin now, but you should actively pursue Spanish or another language to show colleges that you are pursuing an intellectual interest.
I was thinking about it, and until May 24th I can change my scheduele. But, my school only offers Latin, ASL, and Spanish. I chose to do an ACT prep class, which might be beneficial, but I might be able to do Latin four my senior year. I’m thinking about doing so. Thanks!