High school foreign language reqs: years or levels?

Applying to College
1

<p>I think this question has been posted many times, but I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer for this. For example, Harvard strongly recommends “4 years of foreign language” - but does this necessarily mean all 8 semesters in high school with FL or rather completing up to level 4 of the language? My middle school starts FL in 7th grade, and 7th/8th = FL level 1, so by senior year, the “AP level” = FL level 5. Therefore, shouldn’t FL level 1 factor in, no matter if taken freshman year or middle school? Additionally, some people might skip FL levels if its too easy…so if someone skipped straight to level 5, surely that counts for more than just “1 year of FL.”</p>

<p>Ultimately I think this question may be irrelevant, since it seems like doing well on the AP/SAT II/reaching the highest level FL class is indicative of a challenging schedule…but if anyone has talked to these colleges about this and gotten an answer, that would be awesome.</p>

2

<p>I can’t speak to those colleges you mentioned, but I had this same question and my GC called up the schools I was looking at. American, George Washington, and Georgetown all said that they count it as levels, not years.</p>