<p>Hi, a friend's son (an ethic Chinese) took 2 years Spanish courses in his middle school years. At his freshmen year, he took 1-year AP Chinese (he took Chinese class for years on weekend Chinese school, not in middle school). Now he is registering for sophomore year courses. He heard many colleges have 3-years same one foreign language requirements in the college admission process. Now he is wondering if he needs to take 3rd year Spanish in his sophomore year to fullfil this requirement. </p>
<p>The question he has: is there such specific requirement from most colleges in college admission process or it is just recommended for high school students?</p>
<p>His school counselor said AP Chinese should meet this requirement as usually students will take a few years of language class before they can take AP level language course. However, he only has one year AP Chinese course in high school transcript, not 3 years. If he transfers his middle school Spanish credits to high school, it is only 2-years credits, still not 3-years. Initially he planned not to take any foreign language from sophomore year as he thought his one-year AP Chinese course will be enough to fullfil the foreign language requirements for college admission. Now he is worried if this will impact his future college application if he stop taking any foreign langauge course from shphomore year given his case. Any information is appreciated!</p>
<p>There are two separate issues here: one is what a college requires in order to be eligible to enter, and the other is what a (highly selective) college will want to see.</p>
<p>The counselor is right. At most colleges, demonstrating proficiency in the second language to the AP level is sufficient to meet the requirement. However, if he is aiming for highly selective colleges, it will look better to continue in a third language rather than stopping now.</p>
<p>My interpretation is colleges want to see the student has taken 3 years of language in high school. Middle school doesn’t cut it. The schools don’t say, a certain level of competency in a foreign language, they say 3 years. 4 is better.</p>
<p>Just musing, but if he has grown up with Chinese and English, it seems like he is taking the easy way out by just taking AP Chinese. Different, but similar to a kid who grows up in France, goes to high school in the US, and gets an 800 on the French SAT. It’s not going to impress anyone.</p>
<p>If it is made clear that his AP Chinese year is the result of many years of studying Chinese outside of the school system, it may well do. What many colleges are looking for is basic fluency in another language, and he has demonstrated that if he got a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. On the other hand, it certainly would not hurt his chances and might improve them at some places if he took another language through the 3rd level. Depending on how far he got in middle school, that could mean two more years of Spanish, since most middle schools take 2 years to complete Spanish 1, and it sounds as if he stopped at that point and did not take Spanish 2 freshman year.</p>
<p>The question is, what kind of schools is he interested in, and would taking Spanish prevent him from taking something else that interests him more. </p>
<p>Consider that top schools want to see kids who have no interest in STEM fields take the full array of sciences and math, including physics and calculus, preferably at the highest level available to them, and they want to see STEM kids do the same thing with social science, language, and humanities. Much depends on the type of school involved.</p>
<p>AP level in a foreign language is typically equivalent to the fourth or higher level of high school foreign language, especially if confirmed by a high score on the AP test. However, checking each college specifically on its requirements should be done.</p>
<p>On the other hand, some claim that some admissions committees discriminate against those who show proficiency in a heritage language as their language other than English, so if that is a concern, taking a third language like Spanish to level 3 or 4 may be helpful.</p>
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<p>UCs and CSUs say that taking foreign language level N with a C or higher grade in high school validates level 1 to N-1 as well. Sufficiently high SAT subject or AP scores also count to satisfy their foreign language requirement. Basically, they just care that you meet some specified level of foreign language proficiency. They say something similar with respect to math – completing precalculus with a C or higher grade validates all lower levels of high school math (algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2).</p>