Do colleges look at course duration or just credits?

Applying to College
1

I’m a sophomore this year in HS, and I took Chinese this year (my first year of a foreign language), and for my next two years I plan on doing Running Start (Washington State Dual Credit Program).

I’m aware that colleges prefer if you take 3 years of the same language, but that’s not an option for me, because the college I am going to for Running Start doesn’t offer Chinese. So I have decided to switch to Japanese. I am trying to figure out if the two years I do of Japanese In Running Start count as 2 regular HS years, or do they just go off the amount of HS credits I get from taking that course. Because if the second option was true. I planned on not taking Japanese next year, and taking a language proficiency test at my HS to just receive 4 credits, and add it to the 1 I already have and have a total of 5 foreign language credits, which is well over the amount of 3, which I would’ve had otherwise from taking 3 years of foreign language.

To summarize that, the question is when colleges look at your info/transcript etc. do they look at the amount of time (years) you were in a course, or do they look at the credits you received in the said subject?

3 HS credits (foreign language) usually equals out to 3 years of being in the course.

2

College language courses may cover material faster than high school language courses. So you need to check what level of college language is equivalent to high school year 3, according to the high school, college you are attending, and colleges you may apply to.

3

Since you mention taking a language proficiency test, what language do you already know, and to what level?

4

fluent french. I was just confused. if I had 5 credits for a foreign language. but only went through one actual school year. does it still count as technically 3 school years?

5

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1802227-faq-foreign-language.html

Some colleges may allow a sufficiently high AP or SAT subject test score in French to fulfill their foreign language requirements. Others may still expect you to take a foreign language in high school.

Do you mean to say that you took a high school 5th year course in Chinese or French or some other language? Many colleges will look at the level completed over the number of years, since it is common start the lower levels in middle or elementary school. However, check each college if you are not sure (ask directly if the web site is not clear).