I’ve only taken two years of Spanish, but I’m hearing that FSU prefers 4. Is this true? Does it have to be consecutive, or can I switch from Spanish to Latin?
No it’s not true. You need two years at least (state law for state schools) and I don’t think classics count. Also it’s a Florida graduation requirement (assuming you’re from Florida) so you should be fine. It doesn’t have to be consecutive, but why would you shoot yourself in the foot by not taking a foreign language consecutively?
According to the common data set…FSU requires 2 years of a foreign language but recommends 4 years.
http://www.ir.fsu.edu/commondataset.aspx
When a college requires/recommends a certain number of years of a language it generally means reaching that level in one language. For example a college looking for 4 years of a foreign language wants to see an applicant go up to Spanish 4. Taking two years of two different languages will not be viewed as taking four years of a foreign language.
Foreign language is viewed as an academic course and (in an extreme example) the rigor needed to master level 4 will be much higher than taking 4 intro level foreign language classes.
That said, it appears you have taken the minimum requirements with Spanish 2. You need to determine if you should continue to meet (or get closer to) the recommendation.
There was a similar recent thread about the FL requirements for “top colleges”: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/2121562-are-4-years-of-a-foreign-language-critical-for-top-colleges-p1.html This is not specifically relevant for FSU, but they do “recommend” 4 years of FL, so you should probably take that many if FSU is where you want to go.