Four years of Foreign Lang. required?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I was looking through the Common app's website on Harvard, and it says that it requires and recommends 4 years of a foreign language. This would pretty much kill my application since I had one year of a foreign language (German) and then my district dropped it, and now I only have time to get two years of another Foreign Lang (Spanish or Latin) before I graduate. I had always heard that 4 years of a Foreign Language was <em>recommended</em>, but not that you must have it. What's the case here?</p>

2

<p>Well I can tell you that I will be a freshman this fall at Harvard and I only took French I-III in high school. I wasn't very good at the language and decided to take AP Chem instead my senior year. So obviously it isn't "required."</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

3

<p>ORLY?????</p>

<p>i feel so dumb now. i suffered through AP french this year just to have 4 years of language. it was horrible. my teacher literally gave us quizzes everyday...even after the AP test. we also had to do powerpoints on the history of france every marking period in front of the head of the language department............</p>

4

<p>Don't worry you guys, I got a C in German I. That was during my less than stellar freshman academic semester (12 schools in a couple years will hurt your academic motivation).</p>

5

<p>I don't think four years is a requirement at all (but of course, it really doesn't hurt). I took three years of Japanese...but opted out of the fourth year.</p>

6

<p>Only one year at an introductory level will hurt. Three years standard
or two years advanced (culminating in an AP) are not frowned upon
from knwoing people who go to H.</p>

<p>H seems to love students who do multiple languages a couple of years as
well.</p>

7

<p>My D only had 2 years of french and she was accepted SCEA for the class of 2011.</p>

8

<p>Yea, my one year of bad F. Lang will hurt me, but I should have 2 semesters of college (dual-enrollment) Spanish before I graduate though.</p>

9

<p>2 years of spanish, not even close to AP level.
No problem.</p>

10

<p>I also dropped AP Spanish to take AP Chem my senior year and got in- it's all about context.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, it must by no means be a requirement. I had 3 years of Latin, and then was unable to take year 4 because there wasn't enough interest in the course...and I was accepted.</p>