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@randomperson
3 answers, 4 votes
 • a year ago •
Admissions Advice
[edited]

Skipping Spanish for Journalism?????
Answered

Hi guys!

This is my first time posting here, so I'm a bit nervous!

Anyway, I'm a freshman currently, and I need some advice about coursework.

This is a bit hard to explain, but basically my school offers a pathway where I can skip spanish and take 4 years of music ie. orchestra, band, etc (I'm currently in orchestra so this is no problem for me), plus AP Music Theory. I wanted to take AP Music Theory anyway so once again, this is fine for me. I want to do this, so that I can have time to take both health and commputer applciations this year, in second semester (both are one semester classes and requirements to graduate), then next year, I'll have a time slot to take journalism (which is both an english credit and an elective credit, and I can also use it to show my extracurricular passion for journalism, which is important since I write for my school newspaper and it's actually really good and award winning), and in addition take English 10, which is beneficial because I really want to improve my english skills. I'll also have another additional period to double up on another class (I'm thinking probably science), which would be really great as well.

The only problem is, I've heard that it's bad to skip spanish, even if it's allowed, since schools like georgia tech and stanford require a certain number of foreign language credits, and although I'll take the AP Chinese exam since I am Chinese, I fear not having enough foreign language credits will make me less competitive, even if it does enable me to show my passion for journalism. What do y'all think?

btw, I could also continue with spanish, and just take one of the two one-semester classes (health and computer applications), then next year double up on just english, and not science, then push the other one of the one-semester classes to senior or junior year, but then I'll have to take another stupid one-semester class to fill that time slot, and I don't want that, but this seems to be my only option if I don't wanna skip spanish.

I could also give up my lunch periods to take spanish, and health, and comp apps this year, but i don't know if my counselor can line up my schedule perfectly like that.

sorry if this is long winded, I just need to explain the situation since it's really complicated, I appreciate any help I can get!

edit: btw, in my school Journalism is technically both an elective, and an english course, but apparantly skipping spanish for an elective is bad in general, which makes me more worried. I do well in spanish as well, btw, if that's relevant

freshman
courselist
9th-grade
journalism
Spanish
2
7
🎉 First post
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3 answers

1
Accepted Answer
@flora
49 answers, 127 votes
 • a year ago

Since you're pretty confident with your Chinese, you can take a test through Avant, and earn foreign language credits through it (you can earn upto 3-4 credits) then you can also take the AP Chinese exams as well.

But talk to your counselor and make sure that your school accepts those credits.

Skipping Spanish for an elective isn't bad if you are already earning a much higher level credits in another foreign language, and taking Orchestra for 4 years + AP Music Theory. This shows commitment, interest, and is a higher level achievement. So I would say don't worry about it.

1
2
@Anonymous123
415 answers, 342 votes
 • a year ago

Hi @randomperson!

If you're worried about not having enough foreign language credits and you're good with Spanish (as you mentioned above), you can take the AP Spanish exam w/o taking the course just like you're doing for Chinese. Taking both will demonstrate your language proficiency and make you more competitive than anyone with just AP Chinese or anyone with just Spanish.

Hope this helps!

2
[🎤 AUTHOR]@randompersona year ago

Is the exam hard to study for though? I wanna do it but if I get a bad score it would negatively affect my application, right?

@Anonymous123a year ago [edited]

Sorry, but I can't answer that because I haven't taken AP Spanish. A bad score will negatively impact your application. I made the suggestions because you said you do well in Spanish.

2
@lorih
1 answer, 2 votes
 • a year ago

Honestly, I will admit, I am not an expert - I am only a sophmore in High School, but my personal opinion is that a few credits in Chinese should be fine. I wouldn't worry too much about the foreign language credits.

2
[🎤 AUTHOR]@randompersona year ago

I will say, I don't think skipping spanish is a big deal, and since I have the chinese credits it'll mostly be fine. My main concern is just that a lot of people say, if you're chinese and you use chinese as your foreign language you'll appear as a slacker and itll make your application worse, because it shows you aren't willing to put in the work to learn a new language. Honestly though I feel like I would put this time slot to better use if I did journalism, but I'm really hesitant and worried

@AlexanderOddo
expert
a year ago

@randomperson I also think that taking Chinese for your language will be fine. Having Chinese ancestry or growing up in a Chinese-speaking household does not guarantee that you will be fluent in Chinese. AP Chinese also tests for your ability to understand high level language and character comprehension, which is challenging to learn at home. Colleges will take all of this into consideration and see your Chinese credits the same as any other language. Hope this helps!

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