Foreign Language Requirement for CollegeAnswered
Hi, I am a current Senior in High School. I took Spanish 1 in middle school between my 7th and 8th grades, and then took Spanish 2 as a freshman and Spanish 3 as a sophomore. Last year I decided to skip Spanish 4, and instead take AP Spanish. I only got a 3 on the AP test and got a B in S1 and an A in S2 in the class. I was just wondering, is the 4-year foreign language in many colleges particularly for the classes taken only in HS, or does it intend to include the fourth level of any language class taken? My sister is also a sophomore this year and she is in French 3. I told her to take AP French next year, but now am wondering if this is the right choice. I do not want to screw her over like I potentially did with myself by only taking 3 years of a foreign language in HS.
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1 answer
You gave better advice to your sister than you took for yourself. Some schools like Harvard want 4 years of foreign language, not 2 or 3 so I always recommend that HS students plan on taking 4 years or more. Many top colleges have a core curriculum that includes a foreign language so if you can get a high AP test score like a 5, you often can get college credit for your efforts. It might not place you out of taking a language in college but you will at least get advanced standing.
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