Foreign Language Major/Housing/Chance questions!

JimSauce
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:50:03 +0000

Hey everyone! I’ve been lurking College Confidential forever (love this site! :D) but I finally decided to make an account to post this topic. Anyway, I have a few questions:

I’m interested in attending BU and want to major in French. Probably a double-major, because I’ve heard that majoring in solely a foreign language is setting yourself up for poverty.

My questions are:
-How is BU’s Foreign Language department? (Or if it depends on the language, how is French Language and Literature?)

-I don’t know what to major in alongside French! I considered International Relations, but after some research, decided not to because 1) As an IR undergrad I won’t have many opportunities upon graduation, 2) it’d be a bit boring, and 3) employment in that field is a bit competitive. There’s also PoliSci, but that field doesn’t interest me at all.

My other subject of interest is writing, so I considered Journalism, but I’m not sure how practical the majors are together. (i.e. how well they complement each other, like French and IR would be a spanking combo). Thoughts on this, Journalism in particular?

-How difficult and hectic would my schedule be to double-major in French and Journalism/IR/PoliSci?

-I like to study languages and want to be trilingual by the time I graduate. I’ve taken 3 years of Spanish and will probably take AP Spanish next year. I’m nowhere near fluent but I’ve gotten 1st place in a language competition and my teacher recommended I skip a Spanish class to take AP next year. Should I stick with it in college or dip my feet into a totally new language? (Keeping in mind I’ll continue studying Spanish during college anyway.)



So…BU offers specialty language houses. These questions are about language housing in general:

-Should I apply for one my freshmen year, or should I live in a regular freshman dorm first and switch later? Honestly I want to live in a huge residence dorm like Warren or West, in the middle of all the action. But I wonder if having the HUGE advantage of being constantly surrounded by French is more important.

-Even if I did apply, how likely is it for a freshman to get into La Maison Francaise?

-Should I try to live in one my Sophomore, Junior, or Senior year instead?
-If anyone has lived in one, what is it like? Non-native speakers of any language, were you overwhelmed? How did it help you learn the language?

-Are they nice places to live (La Maison Francaise, specifically)? Did you miss or yearn for the life of a traditional residence hall? About how many students of the languages are there compared to native speakers? How are rooms set up, bathrooms, etc.? How big is it?

-(I read about a strict prohibition of English in certain rooms. That sounds scary for a beginner of the language! LOL)

-If I don’t live in a language house, where else could I go in Boston to supplement my education?



And I have some chance questions for BU. (: Here are my stats!

Incoming HS senior (class of 2012)

Academics

-GPA: UW 3.9, W 5.2
-Rank 10 out of 583
-IB Program, 9 AP classes taken so far. 4s and 5s in all
-My schedule is and will be pretty much all IB/AP classes
-AP Scholar with distinction award
-SAT: 2050 / 1340; M 660, R 680, W 720 (I plan to retake it!), ACT with writing 29

ECs

Member/Student Rep of IB Student Council (2 years)
JSU Member (2 years)
Memorial Hospital volunteer (2 years, year-round)
Key Club member -> Treasurer -> Vice President (3 years)
School Swim Team + Captain (3 years, captain 1 year)
School Volleyball Team (1 year)
Tennis Team (2 years)
National Forensic League Debate, Varsity (3 years)
1st Place in Foreign Language Competition (Spanish, plan to compete again next year :D)
National Honor Society Senior Liaison (1 year)
Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Humana, Kiwanis (2 years)
200+ service hours
Part-time job at Wendy’s for 7 months and counting
Plan to release several games to Apple app store this summer and throughout the year
Run a website for teenagers (JoblessTeen.com), currently gets 1k-2k pageviews/month

And…yeah, I think that’s everything. How do I stand for BU’s full-tuition scholarships?

Thanks in advance for your responses!