hello i am a current high school senior in virginia! i took spanish 1 and 2 (middle school to freshman year) i then decided i was much more passionate about learning french. my sophomore year i couldn’t get into either language bc of schedule conflicts with my magnet school so i took french 1 junior year, french 2 over the summer, and french 3 now. i was wondering if this will affect my chances for admissions into schools like uva, richmond or unc. i think i have a pretty strong transcript other than this. i will also be applying as a government major if that changes anything.
It won’t impact your application. None of those schools require more than 2 years
Even for schools that ask for 4 years, 3+2 is much better than 3+1 or 2+2.
Going forward you can look at section C of the common data set (google “common data set XYZ University”) and there is a section which will tell you the required/recommended HS coursework (including foreign language) for that particular college. You would be considered to have completed three years of foreign language – they look at the highest level foreign language you will have completed by the end of HS.
If you do apply to some colleges that require four years of foreign language you can ask your guidance counselor to note in his/her letter of recommendation that you had a scheduling conflict junior year that precluded you from taking French that year and I don’t expect it would be a problem.
Thank you for the response! If colleges see it as three years, would I be at a disadvantage compared to kids who made it all the way to AP? By the end of school, I’ll have taken 13 AP classes so I’m pretty sure colleges will know I will be able to handle college level work. But I understand languages are different
Unless the college recommends 4 yeats, 3 year s is fine. There are no brownie points awarded for going over the requirements.
They are not going to analyze your schedule course by course. They will look to see that you have met the requirements and look at the rigor grade your GC assigned and then look at the rest of the application.
If you have 13 AP courses, and 3+2 years of language, you’re set in the advanced classes department. Assuming you did well in these classes, your application is going to hinge on other things. (13 AP courses has to be top 1%.)