I am a rising junior in high school and in kind of a dilemna. I take honors italian and was planning on taking italian four this year but realized id much rather take ap comp sci. The dilemna is the fact that colleges reccomend 3-4 yrs of a foreign language. I have ab a 95 gpa and mid 1400 sat and are applying to colleges like nyu, rutgers, umd, etc. i have two options: take italian this yr ( i really dont like the class idk anyone, but i really enjoy programming and would know the whole class ) and comp sci senior year without friends and i could take italian for a fourth year as well senior year OR switch into comp sci this yr, which is what i want but are held back bc if colleges wanting those years of language. I would then take italian senior yr. would 3 years of italian ( reg for 2 yrs, 3rd honors ) be good enough for these colleges or does taking that fourth year reallt important. Also, will it matter if i took a year in between without it.
Colleges’ stated recommendations or requirements for foreign language refer to level completed not necessarily number of years actually taken during high school, e.g., if one were to actually complete the fourth high school year of Italian in sophomore year, one will have met any 4 year college recommendation or requirement. It sounds like you already have completed Italian 3 and thus have three years for the purpose of applying to colleges. Some recommend four and if you intend to apply to those you should really consider taking athe fourth year. Whether you take it this year or next does not matter. The downside I see to skipping one year and taking it next year is recall. Not doing it for a year can potentially lead to having trouble in the course when taking it next year.
If the colleges recommend or require three years or less of foreign language (like Rutgers and UMd which require only two) you can consider yourself done if you have already completed Italian 3. NYU likely the same since it just says “3 or 4” years. A different issue, and you should check colleges you might be applying to for this, is what impact taking the fourth year might have on your college level language requirements. Colleges often have their own college level language requirement that you have to meet to graduate from college, but many of those colleges use the number of years you completed in high school to determine college level placement and for some taking that fourth year can even mean you can escape having to complete the college level requirement after being admitted.
You can google the recommended/required courses for each college you are interested in.
Read the pinned post about FL at the top of this page.