Expert: Susie Watts - 6/30/2011

Question
hi, I will be a junior in high school next year and would like some information on the language requirements of colleges.

my current situation: I was born in China and moved here during fifth grade. my Chinese is fluent and so is my English. I also took 2 years of Spanish but is struggling a bit. Now, I'm shaky about taking my 3rd year Spanish because it might drop my GPA. knowing that many universities require 2 or 3 years, should I take the 3rd year or not? say if I drop it, would that be a hindrance when it comes to college entry? I do still speak Chinese so would they consider that as my second language?

your help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
I know that many schools want students to have three or four years of the same language.  Each school, however, is different in its requirements.  I would suggest you email a number of schools that might interest you this summer and ask them about their language requirement.  This way you will get an opinion from each and that should help you to decide if you need to take another year of Spanish.  Your email should go to the admissions office. They might consider Chinese as a second language, but again they might not.

http://www.collegedirection.org