How many years of second language should I take? Is it a big deal?
In HS or in college? University of Michigan requires four-term proficiency – that is, proficiency equal to that of someone who has successfully taken a language for four college terms. You can test out of it if you’ve reached that proficiency via study in HS.
Minimum of two years. More is better.
https://umich.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/51/~/foreign-language-requirement
High School
How big of a deal is it?
Do middle school credits count?
They do prefer more than 2 years. The key thing is the level achieved. So if you take the language 1 in middle school, you would start HS with language 2 and that counts as 2 year of foreign language.
Ya so I’m in French 2 right now. I wanna switch to physics next year, But IDK
In highschool? I don’t know. I got admitted with zero foreign language.
In UMich LSA you are required to take atleast 4 semesters or demonstrate proficiency at that level.
My daughter was admitted to LSA with one year of high school french. She bombed the proficiency test so badly that she would have to take 4 semesters anyway…so she switched to Latin…thinking as a biologist, Latin would be more useful. She loved her first term of Latin and did well, but the second term was very difficult for her, and she barely passed. This year, she’s taken two semesters of Spanish, and is having much more success and happiness. The short answer is…for certain careers, tons of foreign language is not prohibitive to acceptance…but a four semester proficiency in the same language is REQUIRED to graduate LSA. Having credits in four terms tied up with a requirement is a pain when you have a lot of other things you need to get done. Do not expect Michigan to be easy for you…even if you are student to whom most things come easy. It’s a challenging school, and you will appreciate every advantage you can get. So to make a short answer long? Definitely take as much foreign language in high school as you can stand. At least two years, four would be better. You will need it to graduate, and the sooner you bite the bullet, the better.
Having just said that…UMich’s college of Engineering doesn’t have a foreign language requirement, but the Ross Business school does, likewise, you’ll need it for Pre-med and Pre-law. It all depends on which school you are applying to and what kind of degree you want.
Honestly? Keep taking it in HS. You will more easily test out. Plus, even though not “required”, it does make for a better application. Anything more you can show subtatively will make a “better” app.
Can you wait for Physics? You should be able to fit it all in to get 4 years language, 4 years science, math and English.
@marygj - actually Ross has options whereby you don’t necessarily have to meet a foreign language requirement.