Course Requirements?

So I was just wondering, many schools require that you have 3-4 years of a foreign language. So I took one language freshman and sophmore year, then I self studied for the AP exam and didn’t take the course junior year. Does this count as three years ? If not, would me taking a different language next(senior) year count as a third years ?

No. Colleges are looking for 3-4 year of the same foreign language.

If you passed the AP exam, that’s generally considered to be completion of level 4, so for the vast majority of colleges, you would be OK.

I see, thanks !!

I don’t agree with skieurope. The admissions officer reviewing your application may not note your self-reported AP scores. My D’s high school wasn’t able to offer 3rd or 4th year in her foreign language and she was not admitted to some colleges where her chances otherwise seemed good. This is despite her guidance counselor explaining circumstances. Deciding to forego these courses is a mistake

@Wje9164be If her GC explained the circumstances, that was not the reason she wasn’t admitted. Colleges won’t penalize you for something beyond your control like that.

They shouldn’t but all things being equal you have one student who has met the course requirements and another who has not. The OP is making a conscious decision to not take required courses relying on an AP score. Bad idea. To be honest, we will never know why one school said accept and another said reject but not having all required courses, regardless of what GC wrote, did not help

I disagree Wje9164be. As you say, you will never know why one school accepted your D and another didn’t but I doubt it came down to not having that extra year of language if her GC explained it. While it’s comforting to think it was something concrete or specific like this, I don’t think this is evidence. It is not the case that two students are identical in every way except that one has 2 years of a language and another had 3 so the 3 year gets in.

OP, most schools recommend, rather than require, a certain number of years of language - check the language for the schools to which you are applying. They do that because they know there are all kinds of reasonable extenuating circumstances (kids who are already bi-or tri-lingual or whose schools don’t offer that 4th year or it just doesn’t fit into an already demanding schedule, or just isn’t that important given the student’s expressed future interests). Assuming you have a compelling reason for not doing the 3d year, and it isn’t explicitly required, you should be fine.

That’s fine, but I stand by my earlier statement. Having said that, the fact that the OP, or anybody else, has met the recommended preparation in a subject only means that the AO can now put a check in the box. After that point, whether a person is admitted or not will not be due to his/her foreign language preparation.