Hi, I’m a high school student hoping to get into top UC schools(UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI). However, I only have 2 years of foreign language, but UC’s recommend 3 years. Is this going to hurt my chances of getting into a good UC? Btw, I also scored 780 on the SAT Chinese Subject Test. I’m hoping this will help my FL section when applying.
If a school recommends 3 years, then 2 years will not mean an automatic rejection, but the majority of your competition will have 3+ years.
Are you Chinese or a Chinese heritage student? If so, no, it won’t help. If a college requests Subject Tests, they do not want one in a FL you’ve spoken all your life. Here is what Columbia says:
UCs accept a high enough score on the SAT subject test to fulfill the language other than English. Also, in terms of classes, UCs look at the highest level completed for language other than English.
How that factors into holistic admission reading at UCs is not obvious.
If you are a native Chinese Speaker, your SAT 2 subject test will not help, but if not then you are good.
Even though 3 years are not required, it is recommended then want do your best to fulfill the requirement.
For the purpose of meeting language other than English requirements with SAT subject tests, UCs do not care if you are a native or heritage speaker.
However, it may not be predictable how UC holistic admission readers will see that.