<p>I realized that Cornell Arts and Sciences requires 3 years of 1 foreign language. I took Japanese 1 during middle school and than Japanese 2 during freshman year and Japanese 3 during sophomore year. I decided to switch to French 1 junior year and plan on taking French 2 senior year. </p>
<p>Does Japanese 1 from middle school count as one of the "3 years" and fulfill the requirement? How much will this put me at a disadvantage. Will it look bad that I dropped Japanese and will probably not continue with French in college? In my Cornell essay I'm going to say that one of the reasons I want to enroll in the arts and sciences is so I can take Korean and become fluent, so they'll know it's not that I hate language.</p>
<p>Thoughts? </p>
<p>It would have looked better to continue to higher levels of Japanese, but you did take Japanese to high school level 3. Usually, the level completed matters most, but you want to ask the school directly to be sure. (Surprising that most schools do not explicitly explain what counts on their web sites, since completing foreign language level N in high school with fewer than N years of high school courses must be quite common.)</p>
<p>It’s water under the bridge, so it’s pointless to second-guess yourself. But you got yourself to level 3, so you will be fine.</p>
<p>However, I would spin your essay a bit, since to write that your will become fluent in an East Asian language in 4 years is disingenuous at best, even with a study abroad component. Instead, you can talk about loving to learn about different cultures, histories, etc.</p>