[unixbeard1337]

My read on this is pretty complex. On the one hand, my verbal ability is off the charts - I never scored lower than an 800 on a PSAT or SAT. My math ability is good but not great. For some time I've felt I'd have been better served by being the worst math or CS student at my college rather than one of the best foreign language students.

The reason is, our society has a number of clear paths for people with highly developed M ability, but fewer viable paths for highly developed V ability. Basically just law school, and that isn't what it used to be. I think that's a problem for us as a society, but it's not going away soon. I'm advising my son to major in something quantitative.

That being said, the author's apparent advice not to take fl at all is insane. Especially for high school students. If you are not MIT/CalTech material, Ivies like to see foreign languages.

[alexhutcheson]

Yeah, even for state schools there is often a foreign language requirement. For example, University of Maryland requires applicants to have taken at least 2 years of foreign language courses[1]. If you decide not to check those boxes, you’re just making the college application process unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Take 4 years of Spanish or whatever else and move on.

[1] https://admissions.umd.edu/apply/requirements/freshman