Lsnguage Requirement

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I think Harvard and similar schools require 4 years in the same language. I'm thinking about taking French as my language however at my school, there are only 2 years of it. My school also offers Spanish and Latin for four years but i think French is more interesting. Will this negatively affect my chance of being accepted or will it not matter considering i'm restricted to just two years of French?</p>

2

<p>Harvard does not explicitly require four years of a foreign language, as far as I know.</p>

3

<p>are you sure? because I remember reading that harvard wanted 4 years of the same language to show the applicant’s extensive and focused knowledge of a language.</p>

4

<p>^ Four years is certainly the general preference, but there is no requirement to that effect (again, as far as I know). You could ask your guidance counselor to indicate that there are only two years of French available at your school.</p>

5

<p>Yeah I’ll do that but you think they’ll hold it against me that I didn’t take another 4 yr language like Spanish or Latin?</p>

6

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<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#1[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I don’t think I ever took a high school course strictly on European history but was admitted nevertheless :). If, after two years, you feel like studying French further, you can always self-study then take the AP exam, do well on the SATII to show proficiency, or even continue your study with community college courses. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>I would say go with what you want to take (French). Although most students at Harvard have taken 4 or more years of the same foreign language before college, not everyone has. I studied Spanish for 5 years, but decided not to take it senior year, as the program at my high school was very weak. Instead, I took an extra AP science, had a more enjoyable and challenging senior year, and am now a freshman at Harvard.</p>

8

<p>Referring to what " Calico " quoted about “fours years of science : biology, chemistry,physics and an advanced course in one of these subjects” , is it better to take biology, chemistry, ap biology and ap chemistry or do what it suggests bio, chem, physics and another ap science? ( srry its unrelated to my prior question, i was just wondering.)
Thank you everyone for your posts. Right now I’m leaning towards just taking two years of French and hoping it doesn’t affect my chances. :P</p>