Regarding the thread title, “What level language is needed for semi-competitive college admissions?”. Language requirements/recommendations vary quite a bit between different colleges. I expect there are also different expectations for different applicants, depending on things like what field they plan to study and what courses were available at their HS.
2, 3, or 4 years of foreign languages may be recommended. Some colleges recommend a particular number of years of courses taken during HS. Others instead specify the maximum level achieved, regardless of whether courses were taken in MS or HS. Others give vague guidelines and instead recommend varying according to interests… You can find some specific details in the CDS and often on websites of the colleges that interest you. For example,
Cornell Arts & Sciences says – “It is our strong preference that students complete 3 units of one foreign language during high school, however, students who have initiated a foreign language sequence before high school or who have heritage language skills that allow them to place directly into a higher level course will have met our minimum requirement by completing at least the third level of a foreign language sequence (e.g., Spanish 3).”
Cornell Engineering instead specifies math and science requirements up to calculus, but appears to only recommend that applicants take an unspecified number of years foreign language, like they recommend taking unspecified years of computer science. Other tech-focused colleges often have similar more relaxed requirements. Some specify high level math and science requirements up to calculus, yet only vaguely recommend 2 years foreign language.
I am not aware of any college that implies a preference for foreign language in senior year more so than junior year. Selective colleges with holistic admissions will see the full transcript, rather than just the list of senior year courses.