I am doing course selections for my junior year (high school), and I am thinking of dropping Latin IV Honors and taking American Gov + Politics AP instead. I have taken 2 years of high school language, and I am proficient in Chinese due to my heritage. Would colleges count it against me if I drop my language? I am averaging a steady A in Latin, so I am not dropping it because of a bad grade, I am just interested in American Politics.
Look at the recommended (or required) number of years of foreign language for the colleges you are interested in and as long as you fulfill that you should be fine.
I would advise against not taking 3 years of a foreign language regardless of your proficiency with Chinese. Admissions officers will have your transcript in front of them and having only 2 years of a foreign language is not a good idea
OP is in Latin III. For the vast majority of colleges, it’s the level that “counts” not the number of years. So, for the OP, as long as the college does not require 4 years of a foreign language, you’re fine. If you also have formal evidence of Chinese ability (AP exam or, even better, HSK), so much the better.
I only took 2 years of language (but including AP). In the end, I did get into colleges with acceptance rates in the 10s and 20s. However, I did get rejected to 4/5 top 20 schools I applied to, though I highly doubt it was because I did 2 instead of 3 years of language.
Meaning that you completed at least level 4 (depending on what you school’s AP level was), which most colleges consider to be like “4 years” of that language.