beaniemorton

As the title suggests, I'm Hispanic but I'm not a native Spanish speaker. My father is Bolivian and I spend a considerable amount of time with his side of the family. I also have a pretty standard Hispanic last name. I'm wondering if colleges will assume that I am a native speaker and count it against me for taking AP and IB Spanish classes. I have great interest in learning Spanish and I want to be as fluent as a native speaker, but I'm working hard to do that and don't want colleges to assume that I've just been taking easy classes. Is there a place I can indicate this on an application that will take care of this concern?

Youdon'tsay

Might make a great essay. I've always hated that my parents didn't teach me Spanish, their first language. Of course, I'm 46 now, so I can't blame my parents for my lack of fluency at this point!

entomom

Yes, you could incorporate it into an essay, or you could put a brief statement in the Additional Information section. My D did the later because she took Spanish for her FL since her dad, who was Latino, died when she was young. I do think it's important to let adcoms know in some way that you are not a native Spanish speaker and that you took Spanish because it's important to you due to your Hispanic ethnicity.