<p>So here's something I'm confused about. I'm white, but from kindergarten through 8th grade I went to a Chinese Immersion school and learned both Cantonese and Mandarin. I became pretty fluent (and I was not a "native speaker" where Chinese was concerned). When I got to high school, I wanted to try something new and took French for a year. I got an A, but didn't really enjoy it, so sophomore year I switched and entered the Mandarin program at my school. I went straight into the level three Mandarin course (skipping the first two levels after talking to the language department head about my background) and passed. I am now in my junior year, but I decided not to continue into the fourth level of Mandarin offered at my school (which is AP). Does the fact that I took one year of Mandarin at the third level count as three years of a foreign language where college applications are concerned? Does the fact that I am not Chinese and Mandarin was not my native language have any effect on that? I haven't really been able to get a definite answer, so some help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes. For most school, you are equivalent to 3 years of Mandarin Chinese. Many schools do not consider non-English native language in foreign language requirement. This is not the case for you. You may also want to try taking the AP and SAT subject test in Chinese. That may be a good way to demonstrate your Mandarin skill to be beyond the 3rd year level.</p>