Can taking Chinese I class in senior year lower your chances of getting accepted into UC?

Question

Like, I wanted to take Spanish 4 in my senior year, but the class was full and I was put into AP Spanish...but I am pretty sure I won't get an A in AP Spanish, so I might as well change my language class altogether to Chinese I.

Can this possibly lower my chance of getting accepted into UCs?

Answer 1

As far as I know, you only need 2 years of foreign language to be eligible for UC, but they really want 3 years. I got into Berkeley with only 3 years of the worst college prep Spanish classes in the history of secondary education. While that was 10 years ago, I don't think the requirement has changed.

So if you want to take Chinese 1, you can, and as long as you don't bomb it, it won't hurt your shot at admissions.

But if you'd rather do some other really awesome and useful elective like psychology or public speaking, then by all means go take something else.