<p>My son took Spanish 3 as a high school freshman after having taken Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school. He never took a foreign language course again.</p>
<p>He had no trouble being admitted to colleges that require 2 or 3 years of foreign language for admission, even though only one of his three years of Spanish was taken in actual high school (rather than middle school).</p>
<p>Check with a few colleges to be sure, but in general, “three years of foreign language” typically means “foreign language through level 3” rather than “three years of foreign language taken in high school.”</p>