Many universities recommend three or four years of the same language when they make college preparatory course recommendations to high school students. If I started French in middle school, did French II in 9th grade and French III in 10th grade, does this count as three years of a foreign language in the eyes of college admission officers? (I stopped after 10th grade)
Yes. That counts.
Double check with your guidance counselor who will know the ins and outs of your particular school district. But it sounds like the middle school class was a HS level class since you started at level 2 in HS so it is probably OK.
The answer also depends on what schools you’re interested in. In general, higher-ranked schools prefer more than the minimum requirement of most high schools. You’ve mentioned Northwestern and Duke in previous posts so you would not be as competitive at those schools with only 2 years vs. applicants who took a foreign language all 4 years of HS.
OP has indicated that s/he has completed French 3; for the vast majority of colleges, that equals 3 years of FL study.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1802227-faq-foreign-language.html
Additionally, Northwestern "recommends’ 2 years of FL. Duke “recommends” 3 years.
http://admissions.northwestern.edu/faqs/high-school-courses/index.html
http://admissions.duke.edu/application/overview
OP’s challenge will not be the number of FL classes taken.
@skieurope Thank you so much!