<p>I was looking at the Stanford website today and it says it "recommends" 3 years of foreign language.</p>
<p>However, what does this mean?</p>
<p>Is it 3 years or 3 years in high school (it was under the "recommended" classes for high school).</p>
<p>Because I took French I in 8th grade, French II in 9th, and French III in 10th grade. Then I quit French because I wanted to take 2 science classes (AP chem, AP Physics) because I want to be a scientist one day...</p>
<p>Will they count that as 3 years or just two years because I only took 2 in high school. On my transcript, all 3 credits will show up and it will say French-III under sophomore grades.</p>
<p>I was just curious because if they only count it as 2 years, wouldnt that be UNFAIR to someone that took 1 year in middle school. They would be punishing a person that took 8-10 grade and took something else they liked in 11-12th. But yet the person that started in 9th grade and ended up taking French III in 11th grade will "meet" the requirements but the former wont?</p>
<p>Does anybody know? Anybody familiar with this? Also has anybody gotten into Stanford with this dilema? Also is it even a relavant issue when the rest of your transcript is loaded with AP classes and top grades?</p>
<p>Its actually 3 years required, 4 years recommended. </p>
<p>I actually only did 2 years of spanish, did a yearsworth of credit in spanish-3 during summer at a community college.I got deferred, without 3 years of solid high school credit. This means, they probably didn't care much for the stretch on my app, or else they would have rejected me.</p>
<p>They have my middle school math and foreign language credits on transcript because they were considered "high school" classes taken in middle school</p>
<p>for example i have</p>
<p>8th grade-French I (only this and like algebra I and geometry)
9th grade-French II (along with all the other 9th grade classes)
10th grade-French III (along with all the other 10th grade classes)</p>
<p>and it says french III under 10th grade not II</p>
<p>Oh well thanks guys anyways. It shouldnt probalby matter anyways. I probably am going to sign up for AP French next year (french 4) as senior considereing I really dont have many options. </p>
<p>I dont think they will care if I "skipped" a year of a foreign language, ill just tell them i wanted to explore science options and that my schedule couldnt fit it since we only have 7 classes, not 8.</p>
<p>What if you exempt the foreign language credit at your high school?<br>
In my case, I took two years of Chinese 9th and 10th grade, but exempted Chinese when I changed schools in 11th and 12th grade because my Chinese had exceeded the level of Chinese offered by my new school.</p>
<p>Hopefully that means you have a pretty good level of proficiency in the language, but as long as some one, namely your guidance counselor, makes that clear to them in their rec form, you should be fine.</p>
<p>What if you are already fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese and took only three years of Spanish (1st year was in 8th grade, then Spanish II in 9th and Spanish III in 10th and didn't take any more because I was interested in other classes)? Does that technically mean that I already fulfill the recommended 4 years with my Mandarin and Taiwanese?</p>
<p>I imagine you learned Mandarin and Taiwanese at home? I think they want you to get some exposure to a language through your high school in an academic setting.</p>
<p>I'm betting there's some leeway there for you because you were already tri-lingual, but it could be a problem, so I'd get an official response from Stanford.</p>
<p>If you are fluent in any foreign language that is offered as SAT II, just take the test, get high enough score, and you'll be done with FL requirement.</p>