For recent high school graduates/college people

[rockin_amigo14]

I'm going into my junior year in high school and am finding myself in a bit of a pickle. Maryland requires 2 years of a language to graduate, which I just completed, with Spanish 3 honors. However, I'm being told that colleges want you to take 3-4 years straight of a language. You have to understand, I not only am bad at Spanish, but I'm very bad at it.

So my question is, do you think I should continue? I am ready to drop it, and pick up a class that'll up my GPA a bit (3.56 this year

) Do you think taking multiple years of a language was helpful when applying to college?

While we're on that note, I guess I might as well ask another question. What do you look for in colleges? My family is planning college visits this summer and want to know where I want to go. Any place where I can see student opinions on certain schools?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MrSlacker]

I only took one year of language. Then again, I dont have a 4.0 GPA...

 

[fr4c]

You should continue taking the foreign language course, as colleges like to see conisistency in your path/courses. Plus it wouldnt hurt as many colleges will probably require you to take a foreign language depending on your major/minor, so prepping your skills in high school is a good idea.

 

[seanohue]

I'm going into my senior year of HS and I took 3 years of spanish. I say take 3 years, and then take it again in college lol, it will be an easy grade. I plan to take German though because that's always a language I've wanted to learn. And 3 years of a foreign language looks good on colleges. Anytime you do more than you need to, it's a step closer to the doors of MIT (or wherever you want to go).

What HS do you go to anyway?

 

[rockin_amigo14]

bah. i guess i should continue....dang


@seanohue: Marriotts Ridge High School. The new one.

 

[seanohue]

Ah I see. I went to Mt. View for middle school but I go to MSJ for HS. I would be at Hebron though.

 

[Czilla9000]

Ya, it is helpful... but if it is huge drag on your GPA i'd consider dropping it.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Nah, if you meet your graduation requirement, spend your time doing something you'd rather do. Don't kill yourself over what an admissions board thinks, it just isn't that important. If you really want to look good, take some classes at the community college. Not only will you pick up some units, but you'll be showing the committee that you're already capable of college-level work. And do some extracurricular stuff, if you aren't already. A part time job looks good, too.

But really, don't sweat it. I think all the coaching, strategizing, planning, etc. etc. is a giant load of crud. You're in high school, you're supposed to be having fun and a good time. There are academics involved, but you've done what you're supposed to do to get into college, and from the sounds of things, you'll get accepted somewhere good.

Also, don't sweat the rankings so much, either. Be sure to visit the campus, and ditch any counselor, etc. assigned to keep an eye on potential recruits. Go talk to the students and look around. Find out if they're having a good time. Once you're out, no one much cares about your grades or if your school moved from #36 to #27 in US News. And you'll forget about the classes, etc. soon enough, and you'll just remember the good times with your friends. Try to go somewhere that is a "college town" where there's plenty of socializing.

As for my experience? Well, this is pretty much what I did. I didn't stop with undergrad, either, I picked up two more degrees afterward. It all worked out fine. I'm enjoying life now, but those years were really a blast. I know people who strove for the highest grades. They always seem a little jealous of those of us who went in focused on fun, while making a reasonable effort to graduate.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Go where you think you will be happy and succeed academically.

Contrary to popular belief, undergrad university/college rankings are essentially meaningless when it comes to applying for grad school.

Employers won't evaluate you by where you obtained your BA/BS, but rather by your MD/JD/PhD.

-Matt

 

[mrarroyo]

If you want to get better at a foreign language practice is the key. So get yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend (as applicable) that is a native speaker of spanish. Just make sure you practice (spanish that is

) Good luck.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo If you want to get better at a foreign language practice is the key. So get yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend (as applicable) that is a native speaker of spanish. Just make sure you practice (spanish that is ) Good luck.

I actually have a good friend who does this...he knows MANY languages now.

-Matt

 

[esco]

Any idea what you want to do after college? For instance, I want to become a doctor, and I love biology, so I looked for schools that had good biology programs and a good medical school acceptance rate.

It's a lot easier picking colleges if you know what you want to do afterwards. If you don't know what you want to do, that's fine too.

 

[Elec]

One thing that is potentially odd/bad about quitting the foreign language now is this. At my University, they'd make people take a proficiency exam to decide where to place you. Now let's say you needed two more semesters of a language. You'd take the Spanish exam, place somewhere above the most basic class (because you've had SOME of the language even if you're bad at it), then be miserable taking two semesters of intermediate Spanish that is way too hard for you. I knew people who would just go sign up for Japanese or Russian or something because they had never taken it and it would be at the intro level to fulfill their requirement. If you continue in high school, it's probably easier and you likely wouldn't have to take any more in college.

As for choosing a college, my bit of wisdom is to look for a place you think you'd like to live for the next 4-5 years. This could be geographically (I've always wanted to live in <city whatever>) or locally (cool, they've got a <something I like> on campus). On top of all the school stuff, you WILL have to live there, so make sure it's not a great school in a crap town or a place that just doesn't look like you'd want to call home.

 

[mrarroyo]

A friend of mine wanted to be a doctor but was not sure if could come up with the funding to go to medical school. He was a bit concerned about being accepted.

In the beginning he was going to get a biology or chemistry bachelors degree. He then realized that if he did not go to medical school the salaries for biology or chemistry majors is limited. He came up with the idea of getting a bachelors in Chemical Engineering which he did from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Later he went to medical school at Emory University. Personally I think it was good planing on his part.

 

[NightWoundsTime]

Always good advice to never take a proficiency exam or continue a class from another school. I took Calc 1 at a community college and thought I could go right into Calc 2 at a private college. Wrong. I'm not trying to bash the community college system but don't take anything too high level there, or try and complete everything at that level (not good for high level math though since if you're in engineering everything you do afterwards will rely on those skills).

But then I'm just a truck driver/asphalt paver. Made too many mistakes in school and then got sick of the whole system.