Should I take a third year of Spanish?

Answered

If S3 could cause you stress and you feel it's a class that won't help you pursue what you want to do, I'd say drop it. Senior year is already stressful because of the whole college preparation, so you shouldn't overwhelm yourself. Instead, focus on courses and activities that will help you build a portfolio in business and management. This will show colleges that you are taking the proper steps to pursue a career in your desired field. Besides, learning a language would always be something you could do in your free time rather than in class.

Hi @EricB!

I'm about confused as to the context — are you looking to replace Spanish 3 with another course, or are you looking to have a free period during your senior year?

If it's the former, then I'd definitely recommend working on your business. Extracurriculars are very important, especially for more prestigious schools, and having a business project under your belt will impress admissions officers a lot more than an extra semester of Spanish.

However, if you're looking to take time off school, then it would depend on where your transcript is at the moment. If there are a lot of AP classes you haven't taken, or if your GPA is low for the colleges you're applying to, then you'd probably want to fill out your transcript senior year — and Spanish 3 isn't a bad way to do that.

So, if you're looking to have a free period senior year, you'll have to figure out whether your transcript is already strong enough for the colleges you plan on applying to (our Chancing Engine is a good tool for that). If you think it's already strong enough, then go for it! But if you're not sure, it'll probably be better to be on the safe side and take Spanish 3 (assuming you think you will perform well in the class).

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi @EricB,

The simple answer is it depends on what kind of college you are applying to and expect to attend.

If your goal is to get into a Top 25 college then, you are going to need that 3 years of a foreign language on your transcript. Some colleges like Harvard, actually want to see the 4th year as a minimum.

Since the landscape for gaining admittance to T25 schools is uber competitive these days, most successful admits actually have more core classes completed than the minimum. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn that at most Ivys and Elites, and top liberal arts colleges the majority of admits have completed their language requirement up to the AP Level, so 5 years.

If your college goals are less competitive, say focusing on large public colleges and T100-T250 schools then, you are perfectly okay with having 2 years of a foreign language.

Good luck with your decision.

This is a great question, and thanks for sharing lots of information about your situation! It sounds like you have answered your own question. If you’re not personally interested in continuing Spanish, you’re stressed about your workload and time this semester already, you don’t think it will help your career, and you already speak a language…it sounds like the best option, for your own interest, would be to not keep going.

Of course, as a senior in Spanish 5 this year, I will attest that Spanish 3 was a huge milestone towards reaching fluency and finding people who really love the language (as most only take 2 years to reach the minimum credits). However, if you’re still not interested, you could try to keep your fluency at its current level by practicing online in free time and reading books, interacting with language speakers, etc. As you seem biased against Spanish, this might be your best option.

Of course, dropping a class is serious, and please check with your parents before doing so— at my private school, dropped classes don’t get refunded!

Hope that helps! Have a great senior year!