[live_freely318]

I'm currently a Junior in high school (young I know) and I have my whole being set on going to school in New York, but I'm in New Mexico and live in this crappy small town that no one ever leaves. I have the grades, school activities and skill to be able to go to basically whatever school I choose, but I'm still working on getting all of the credits I need to graduate.

The high school I go to requires 1 year of foreign language, although they recommend taking 2 years, while most colleges I've looked at require 3. I didn't know this until recently. Me being in my Junior year of high school and only having two years left I thought I would be okay...until I looked at colleges. I am currently taking my FIRST year of a foreign language, in my Junior year, and I only have this year and next year to get the rest of my credits.

This is making me freak out. I had my whole life planned out and this is destroying my plan. I wanted to go to a college in New York, preferably an Ivy League school, and have a double major in psychology and pre-med school to become a psychiatrist. I have Bipolar Disorder 2 and I know how it feels to feel basically lost and that nothing will ever get better and I want to help people not feel that way.

There’s more than one option on how to get all 3 years of foreign language before I graduate but I take school so seriously and want to be successful so this is stressing me out. I’ve talked to my counselors, all the foreign language teachers, my gifted teacher and my parents and they all say “Don’t worry you can get it done” and I know I can I’m just stressed out. I might just end up taking Spanish I this year, Spanish II over the summer and Spanish III next year. I’m just stressed. Any advice would be much appreciated, whether it’s how to go about getting all the credits I need or how to cope, anything will help.

[CANDC]

You might also consider joining organizations like Spanish clubs or other immersion programs where you intensively learn a language. Practicing what you learn is important.

Ask the teacher if they have additional learning media you can use. See what online free resources are online for learning a language (like you tube, etc) Watch out for scams.

Tailor your expectations to get into a school that will prepare you for the career you are thinking about now. If Spanish will be part of that talk to people in your career field and ask them for advice.

Going ivy league is only useful if you need those kind of connections to succeed. Get an education but don't overpay for it. ivy league schools can be very elite and exclusive and can base entry on how they hope people will endow the school later IMO.

[BlueStar876]

Originally Posted by live_freely318

I'm currently a Junior in high school (young I know) and I have my whole being set on going to school in New York, but I'm in New Mexico and live in this crappy small town that no one ever leaves. I have the grades, school activities and skill to be able to go to basically whatever school I choose, but I'm still working on getting all of the credits I need to graduate.

The high school I go to requires 1 year of foreign language, although they recommend taking 2 years, while most colleges I've looked at require 3. I didn't know this until recently. Me being in my Junior year of high school and only having two years left I thought I would be okay...until I looked at colleges. I am currently taking my FIRST year of a foreign language, in my Junior year, and I only have this year and next year to get the rest of my credits.

This is making me freak out. I had my whole life planned out and this is destroying my plan. I wanted to go to a college in New York, preferably an Ivy League school, and have a double major in psychology and pre-med school to become a psychiatrist. I have Bipolar Disorder 2 and I know how it feels to feel basically lost and that nothing will ever get better and I want to help people not feel that way.

There’s more than one option on how to get all 3 years of foreign language before I graduate but I take school so seriously and want to be successful so this is stressing me out. I’ve talked to my counselors, all the foreign language teachers, my gifted teacher and my parents and they all say “Don’t worry you can get it done” and I know I can I’m just stressed out. I might just end up taking Spanish I this year, Spanish II over the summer and Spanish III next year. I’m just stressed. Any advice would be much appreciated, whether it’s how to go about getting all the credits I need or how to cope, anything will help.

Have you considered summer school or online classes? Either way, the three classes will only be necessary if you want to go to one of those prestigious schools that require three years of a foreign class. Most places only require two years. Also, do they have to be the same language? If not, then maybe in your senior year you could take two language classes of different languages.

[live_freely318]

Originally Posted by BlueStar876

Have you considered summer school or online classes? Either way, the three classes will only be necessary if you want to go to one of those prestigious schools that require three years of a foreign class. Most places only require two years. Also, do they have to be the same language? If not, then maybe in your senior year you could take two language classes of different languages.

I would take different language classes but I live in such a small town and go to a small school so they only offer one language. I have considered summer school I just don't know if my school would let me do it.

[KQiao]

Originally Posted by live_freely318

I would take different language classes but I live in such a small town and go to a small school so they only offer one language. I have considered summer school I just don't know if my school would let me do it.

I went to school in NM. Does your town offer concurrent enrollment options? Like will they allow you to go to the local college for a class that applies as both a high school and college credit? If you already have part of the college requirements for language out of the way with college credit then you might be able to CLEP out of the language requirement or get a recommendation to bypass it. Also, the summer classes or an accredited online course might be an option. Sit down, make a list, look into the options on your list, strike the ones that aren't viable. At this point, it's less a matter of generating ideas than on closing the doors to the ones that won't work so you know where to sink your focus.

Most importantly, breathe.